Gold and Stone, in Questing for Camelot

[Alex Mercer]

That was incredibly stupid. Aang twiddled his thumbs, dejectedly. It was a great idea up until it wasn't. "Sorry..."

Chakravartin took a breath and sighed, as he had seen Aang do many times before. "I said it's fine. You are so apologetic..." The monk was definitely a soft hearted mortal. In war, it was his kind that died first, or became the greatest of warriors. Aang was definitely one to keep close, either as an ally, or out of caution. Especially if he could just manifest new powers at will. Chakravartin still had no idea to what extent the Avatar could wield the elements.

By the look of him, Aang was not the most fearsome warrior, but there was that look. Sometimes, when Aang focuses, when those tattoo glow, there is just enough of a presence that Chakravartin can almost feel the divinity that the Avatar channels. Perhaps that was only because he and Aang were so similar. Perhaps too similar. In all the universe, it was almost uncanny that Aang and himself would meet in a place like this.

"Guys... I uh... I hate to be like this... but... can we stop at this village? I'm hungry, and I gotta find a lady's room." Lysandra called back. She had a death grip on the reigns, but Appa was flying oh so casually, clearly independent of the student flyer's terrified manipulations. It might call to question whether Appa even noticed her atop his head.

The avatars peered over the edge to check out the village below. It was not the largest, but it was of decent size. Aang could see the farmlands that surround it. The forest was giving way to more developed land now, though the capital was not quite in sight yet. The morning mist had left a lazy fog that drifted in the direction they were heading, leading off towards what Aang assumed was west. It would probably drift away before the day's end.

Before Aang could respond, Momo showed his support for the plan by practically diving down towards the village. "... He probably saw something shiny..." The monk chuckled. "I guess we're going down." At this rate, the journey was a quest in and of itself. "Let me take the lead miss Lysa, landing is the difficult part."

Aang was almost graceful in the way he walked along Appa's back. It seemed the wind did not even bother him, despite it being enough to toss a normal man off. He helped guide Lysandra back, before plopping onto Appa's head. "Here we go!"

[Larfleeze]

Chakravartin watched as Aang went to work, guiding Appa down after Momo, aiming for the outskirts of town. The Saru thought it made sense, after all, it would send the villagers into a panic if they had a huge creature simply land in the middle of the town square. Once Appa had been situated, his three riders climbed down, Aang most gracefully and Lysandra absolutely without it.

Aang told the two to start towards the village, and that he would catch up, deciding to speak with whoever might own the nearby barn about getting Appa something a little more filling than a small meadow, and preferably before Appa decides to help himself.

Lysandra and Chakravartin made their way along the dirt path, and the former deity once again found himself wishing for shoes, as his socks were thoroughly ruined. He supposed he could just summon some, but it wasn't the time for it.

As the two of them came within earshot of the small village, they could both instantly tell something was wrong. The villagers, all humans, Chakravartin noted with distaste, were watching them with just as much disgust. His sharp ears picked up on whispers and muttering.

"Definitely not human."
"Not orc either."
"What is it?"
"Look at those clothes."
"She's an empire bitch. I can tell."
"He's got a lightsaber. Everyone knows that only knights of Coruscant wear lightsabers."
"Perhaps he killed a Coruscant knight and took it from him?"
"Is it a child?"
"Is it her child?"
"What is it doing, coming to a proper human village, with weapons like that?"
"Or armor like that!"

Chakravartin couldn't care less, in most situations. He tended to ignore minor offense, telling himself that either he could always kill the offender if he felt like it, or that the offender was so much a nothing, that they weren't even worth killing.

Killing however, wasn't quite an option at the moment, considering his company. Lysandra, as she was willing to carry weapons to begin with, was obviously not as pacifistic as Aang clearly was, ut she was an absolutely horrible liar. If they had to kill someone, it would definitely get back to Aang, and that would be an awkward conversation.

He wasn't understating that, either. It simply would be an awkward conversation. Possibly a friendship ending one, but it would be an unpleasant few minutes.

That is what prevented the town's obliteration after the first thrown pebble bounced off of his head.

"Maybe... we should try the next town." Lysandra said quietly, "The woods wasn't so bad."

"I'll see about making us some clothes that'll fit the culture around here." Chakravartin said, simply turning around and heading back towards Appa and Aang.

When the second pebble hit, this time Lysandra, the awkward conversation became suddenly less unpleasant, in comparison. Not because of a particular fondness for the woman- though he had to admit, she was growing on him. Like a stray animal who lived in the neighborhood, she was familiar and accepted, if not especially welcome.

No, now, whn he obliterated the village, he could use the excuse of protecting her to make Aang less likely to split with him.

In the end though, it was the arrival of the Avatar that made the difference.

[Alex Mercer]

Aang had a completely dofferent reaction as he came into view. His traditional clothing and the tribal tattoos gave him a look of ... belonging. The monk took note of the brewing hostilities, his brow furrows. "What's going on, guys?" The Avatar was almost used to butting into situations like this.

His immediate instinct took over. Avatar talk-down mode engaged. "We don't mean any harm... My name is Aang, and I'm the Avatar..." was, at least. He glanced towards Chakravartin as a form of appology. They were both, by definition, avatars. "This is Chakravartin, if you are friendly, its Chakra, if you aren't... well, you wouldn't really need to talk ro us..." Blunt as it was to the point.

"This is Lysandra... She helped us here, she really wanted to see your world. She is not part of the military, she was... kinda douped into being a mercenary by a pervert." Lysandra blushed.

The crowd had fallen into a hushed whisper. Aang could not hear what they were talking about, but it did not seem quite as harsh as before. "Me and Chakra are new to the Omniverse, Lysandra helped protect us from a gang of bandits. She lead us here, so that we could find someone who knows more." If this were a movie, dramatic music would be playing.

"Would you allow us to visit your village? We are low on supplies and your farms like they would have some awesome strawberries!" How he saw them from the sky was his own business. The monk had something of a sixth sense for sweet goodies

Lysandra immediately perkes at the idea of strawberries. Even Chakravartin had high hopes for a juicy bounty.

[Larfleeze]

"You're Primes then? Both you and the..."

"Chakra, yes." Aang said, putting a hand on Chakravartin's shoulder.

The man who had come forward to speak with Aang narrowed his eyes, looking between the three. "... We don't want to cause trouble with Primes. Get whatever you need to do done, and leave. We won't give you any more trouble."

"Thank you." Aang said, smiling gratefully. Chakravartin was almost disgusted. These people were hostile and arrogant. But he supposed it wouldn't do to kill them after they had agreed to let them do business.

Aang took the lead, still being the only one in the group who the people of the town would even consider speaking openly with.

Lysandra, unfortunately, found that the town wasn't much better than the forest, in terms of lady's rooms. Camelot didn't have the nearly the level of technology or comfort that she had been used to in Coruscant. Chakravartin ended up having to summon one sufficiently space-aged in an alley. And while Aang's instincts were absolutely correct in identifying their strawberry season in the fields below, the villagers still proved... unwieldy.

"What do you mean that much for the entire box? That's- that's ridiculous!"

"You can pay it." the shopkeeper said to Lysandra, "You're with a Prime. They make money just by breathing."

"That has nothing to do with it!" Lysandra said, infuriated. Many of the shopkeepers simply had little desire to do business with foreigners. Aang had an air about him of kindness and understanding that could be felt no matter who it was who was looking, that let them know he was trustworthy. But Lysandra and Chakravartin, with their Empire technology, and being obviously inhuman, in Chakravartin's case, almost undid it.

As it was, they had been cheated at nearly every table. Not even Aang's love of haggling could get anyone back down to a more reasonable price.

By the time evening came, all three were heading back towards the barn where Aang had convinced a farmer to board and feed Appa with a promise of an entire new set of tools for farmwork. It was hard to do better than Prime-made, after all.

With six minutes worth of concentration from both Aang and Chakravartin, they left the farmer with his payment, and were off once more.

"Well, in order to avoid such a thing in the future," Chakravartin said, "I think more culturally accepted clothes are in order."

"I think I'm fine, for as long as we're in Camelot." Aang said, looking at his simple robes.

"That's probably true." Chakravartin admitted, before looking to Lysandra, "Any preferences in-" she quickly pulled out a tablet, something Aang didn't recognize, and pulled up a photo of a dress suitable for a princess.

"Please? I've kind of, um, been fantasizing about coming her for a while, and I was sure I was going to wear a princess' dress." she said, grinning, "Please?"

"Fine. Though it won't help us in trying to find cheaper prices in the next village we come across."

"Oh..."

"I can still make this, and something simpler." Chakravartin said, when Aang shot him a look, "It's no problem."

She perked up quickly, and Chakravartin set about making two outfits, one suitable for royalty, and one for a peasant. And after having done so, an idea began to blossom, "You know, Aang. It might help us if we could choose which part to look."

"What do you mean?"

"In one village we could be traveling peasants, in another, visiting royalty." Chakravartin said, "You never know, after all."

Aang grinned, it was dishonest, sure, but he enjoyed a good disguise. Fond memories of trying to come off as nobles and ending up becoming waiters in Ba Sing Se as a child came to mind. Chakravartin created two more sets for each of them, except Aang, who simply received a much fancier looking robe. "You might be able to come off as a bishop, rather than just a wandering monk."

"A what?"

"Nevermind."

The villagers had obviously also had a problem with his less human features, so Aang came up with a solution that had Lysandra cackling, but which Chakravartin simply found acceptable. A giant fake beard. And giant hair in general. "You look like a dwarf." Lysandra said, laughing.

"Is a dwarf a human?" Chakravartin asked, neither amused nor unamused.

"Well, maybe you can just tell people you're a short human."

New outfits in hand, they tried their luck at the next town.

[Alex Mercer]

Luckily, Aang had become very good with his Appa crafting. The beard looked rather nice, the longer portion even had a nice little braid. The hair laid back more naturally than the massive standing bush he often used as a wig during his earlier years. "Try to sound old, if you can." If he even knows what old means...

Lysandra was covering her mouth, unable to stop laughing at the bushy beared and what tur ed out to be salt and pepper hair. "You're way to good at that for being such a goody goody!" Aang responded only with a sly grin. Aang may not be a wicked soul, but he still had a young spirit, compelely capable of mischief. Disguise just so happens to be one of hos favorites.

"We're almost there! Look, the road's wider here!" Both Chakravartin and Aang knew that this was a good sign. The capital would obviously have stronger trade routes. Believing she knew exactly hos to fly Appa at this point, she urged the beast forward. "Common Appa! Faster!" Poor Appa was flying on a full belly, he was already at top comfortable speed.

"Like before, we should land outside the city. We need to change before we are seen and associated as outsiders." Chakravartin was giving his outfit one more examination. The peasant one appeared very similar to what he had seen at the village, but he has not het seen royalty. The upper class wear was a hit or miss. "I suggest the lesser garb until we have more information about ahat toyalty would entail. Aang, you are fine as you are."

"Well thanks! You're looking pretty swanky yourself!" The joke came with a brilliant grin from the monk.

After chipping in a touxh of humor, he plucks a basket of the strawberries from their bag. Sure they were expensive, but they looked amazing... he fave Chakravartin a sizeable handfull, then Lysandra before sitting with the basket. Even though he had the least, Aang still tossed strawberries to Momo. The lemur chattered happily while he ate.

[Larfleeze]

Chakravartin walked with a hobble, shuffling just behind the two humans.

"You finally look your age." Aang said, smiling at the overacting.

"If he looked his age he'd be a buried stone skeleton." Lysandra said in reply.

"Impudent younglings." Chakravartin gurgled out, his voice raspy and deep, "Children are incapable of respect."

Both humans burst into laughter.

As the village came closer, Lysandra let out a breath of relief at finding that the only one of their group to receive even a second glance was Aang.

"Well, I think we can consider the beard a success." Aang said, grinning.

Chakravartin simply nodded. The trio moved along the main road, stopping at various stalls to find rations and any other supplies they might need. While the two Primes could technically make whatever they needed from Omnilium, it was exhausting work, and simply giving a shopkeeper an insignificant amount of Omnilium in exchange for a product without any mental focus attached was convenient.

The town was a significantly larger one than the village from before, and the people seemed more relaxed as well. Along a major trade route, the people here accepted travelers passing through as a part of life, rather than something to be suspicious of.

[Alex Mercer]

Aang let the elderly Chakravartin barter. The apparent age was a soft spot for some of the merchants. On top of that, Aang was interested in a number of baubles. He loved baubles! He even found a bag that he knew Sokka would absolutely love. When Lysandra stopped beside him, Aang watched her eyes widen and her cheeks brighten. "Ohmygosh it's so pretty!"

The bag she wanted was what looked like old fashioned leather, warn by time and by use. It looked like it had a lot of history, the kind of history you just can't get in Coruscant. "As a monk... I'm against the use of... animal hide..." It sounded like there was a but coming. "But... for all your help... I can turn a blind eye." Aang made a literal gesture of averting his gaze. His hand, meanwhile, held out payment. A girlish squee came from Lysandra that lasted most of the transaction. 

"It's so beautiful!" It was old, but tough. Lysandra gave the bag a little tug, but it did not give. She loops it onto her shoulder and gives a little spin, as if the bag had just completed her outfit. "CHAKY! Look what Aang got me!" Aang was still chuckling as she dashes over to the "elderly" prime, taking things from the baskets he had acquired to fill her new accessory. "Wow, it's so deep! I could put Appa in here... or..." Gasp inserted here... "Momo! C'mere Momo!" And of course Momo decides at this point to flee the scene. A chase ensues.

With a sigh, Aang returned to Chakravartin's side, plucking one of the baskets of fruit. "Mm... Hey, are those coconuts?" He was rambling through the basket, complimenting the Avatar's good taste.

"I also procured directions. We are on the right track. Minas Tirith is less than an hour's flight from here." Aang felt a bit embarrassed. Chakravartin was so much more productive than him. The only thing Aang had to offer was Appa, and even then Appa did most of the work. "We should head back. We can make it to the capital before dark. I hope the night life of the city is more entertaining than a night in the woods." Not that his night had been uneventful.

"I slept well..."

"Of course you did! You could say..."

"Don't do it," Aang warned.

"You were in your element!" Lysandra chimed without missing a beat. Aang facepalmed, but laughed nonetheless. Lysandra was the embodiment of Sokka reborn.

"Chakra's right, we should head back. Let me get these for you, Sir." It would not look right if he allowed Chakra, an elder, to carry such heavy baskets. Aang lifted the other so that he had one for each arm. For a pacifist, Aang was not exactly lacking in strength. Some might call it a shame.

[Larfleeze]

Chakravartin unrolled the map he had procured in the village, and idly wondered how far Ozo Mat had gotten on her own. The Spiderchair  was theoretically far faster than Appa should be, but he had an instinctive notion that Omni wouldn't allow something so fast to exist in his world. 

Minas Tirith was a truly massive city, divided into rings, each guarded by a near-impregnable wall. Aang mentioned the similarity to the city of Ba Sing Se in his own world. Truly, Camelot was quite similar to the Earth Kingdom in many ways.

During the last hour of their trip, Aang convinced Lysandra to take the reigns once more, in order to continue their training in long-distance hands, Chakravartin's Gold, Aang's Stone. 

"Are you sure? Just pull back! Come on."

"The connection cuts off after five feet, Aang." Chakravartin sighed, taking a step forward to allow the Palace Hand's biomass to integrate back into him. He was limited to three, after the incident of the previous day, and in their training he had already lost two to the edge of his barrier. 

"I don't understand why it would work for me, but not for you Chakra." Aang said, sighing and displaying with his own Stone Glove, "Everything Bending is, is the push and pull of Chi."

"Push and pull?"

"Well, yeah." Aang said, sitting down, cross-legged, and Chakravartin took a similar position, the monk took an instinctive meditative stance, putting his fists together, so that the arrows met at his knuckles. "Attacking and defending, push and pull. Air pulls- negative jing. Yin. Fire pushes, positive jing. Yang. Earth is neutral jing, and reacts with the opposite of its opponent, pulling when the opponent pushes, and pushing when the opponent pulls. And water draws energy from the movement of moving from one jing to the next. A constant cycle of pushing and pulling, like the waves. Yin and Yang."

Chakravartin raised a bushy eyebrow. It wasn't... unfamiliar, he supposed. It would be simpler, if all Fist Powers were so easily defined as the four elements. But as it was- they weren't. Principles that might apply to one Fist User would be irrelevant to another. But at its core...

A Fist User only pulled on their energy when a battle was over. They pushed and pushed and pushed. It was inefficient, and flashy, and destructive. It was Saru. In fact, most duels between Fist Users did not end due to an opponent's skill, technique, or destructive capability. Most duels ended when one of the fighters simply had no more Chi to give. 

"...I'm a fool."

"What?" Aang asked, surprised. 

"I won't say it again." Chakravartin said, deeply embarrassed. The Palace Hands would lose cohesion once it left a five-foot aura of his Chi? Omni had crippled his Chi, Chakravartin knew, but he assumed it was a limit that was unbreakable. A limit set by a god. But he just wasn't thinking like a Fist User! For too long, he had not used a mortal body. He had relied on having more Chi to throw around than literally anything else alive, for his entire existence.

"You look fired up." Aang said, grinning, "Did you figure something out? Do you think you can pull back a Palace Hand now?"

"The issue, Aang, wasn't that I wasn't pulling. Once my Hand leaves my aura, it's lost."

"Then why are you smiling?" Aang said, his own smile not going anywhere. Chakravartin looked like a kid who had just cracked the secret to a kata his masters had been trying to drill into him for days. 

"I'm not pushing hard enough!"

"But... the idea is to bring it back."

"That's irrelevant. If I push as much power as I can into a single Hand, focus my Chi, extend my aura beyond what it was. Aang, when you look at my Palace Hand, you think Earthbending, no?"

"I... yeah." he brought up his own Stone Glove, "That and your whole style is very Earth. Your hands orbit, waiting and reacting. Attacking and defending at the right times. Though, your personality feels more like one of the masters at the Air Temples, back when I was a kid."

"The Palace Hand isn't earth, it's flesh. My flesh. My Chi. I'm not gathering from any other source than myself."

"Fire!" Aang said, eyes lighting up. "You're drawing it from your own inner flame- your Chi! You're a firebender. In spirit anyway."

Chakravartin turned toward Appa's back. and got into his own stance. He grinned fiercely, and focused. He pumped his Chi, what little was left after Omni's tampering, enough that even if he had the other three Palace Hands available to him, they'd be useless while he channeled his strength into this one. 

"Fist of God!" he cried, "Palace Hand!" he punched forward with his mind, and the Palace Hand raced forward, sailing. 

Aang watched, and broke into a wide smile as the hand sailed clear of the five-foot limit, farther and farther. The Hand turned in mid-air some fifty feet away, and shot back towards them, arcing beneath Appa and rising from the other side. In the hand was clutched an acorn from the forest some forty feet beneath them. 

"I knew you could do it." Aang said, slapping the Saru on the back. 

Chakravartin merely smiled, bringing the hand back into his regular radius, he stopped pouring so much Chi forward into the strike, allowing it to ebb back to his regular levels. "I shouldn't have doubted you, I suppose." Chakravartin said. 

---

Minas Tirith was a gorgeous place, a city of white spires, a crown on a mountain. The great walls that surrounded each terrace, culminating in the massive citadel, was something that inspired awe. For most people. 

"It's... kind of small." Lysandra said, "I mean, it's beautiful, but Coruscant's city covered the entire Verse! This... is just a really big village, isn't it?"

Aang shook his head, "I mean, they've got more walls than Ba Sing Se, but Ba Sing Se almost had an entire country inside it. Minas Tirith could fit inside the inner ring."

Chakravartin, who had seen the capitals of a dozen worlds crushed under his host's heel, gave it a 7/10, mainly for aesthetic reasons. 

"Halt!" six knights, riding winged horses, had come from the edge of the outer trading towns that surrounded Minas Tirith. Appa groaned in surprise, not used to other animals in the sky. "What business have you in Minas Tirith?" the leader of the group said, watching the three uneasily. 

"We're simple travelers." Chakravartin said, passionlessly, "We weren't aware there was a customs we should be going through?"

"There is no customs. I'm more concerned with your mount." The knight jerked his lance in the direction of Appa's face, the bison backing up in response, snuffling angrily, "Where did you get it? And what purpose do you intend to use it for?"

"What purpose- to ride him!" Aang said, confused, "What else would we do with him?"

Chakravartin smiled at the pegasi, "He's worried because a sky bison is obviously a more capable flier than their own mounts. They think we'll try to raid the city."

"Well, we promise we won't."

"Where did you find the beast?" another of the knights asked. 

Aang, Lysandra, and Chakravartin shared glances. How would the knights consider two Primes? Aang decided to take the more honest option, and see where it led them. "I summoned him."

The knight who had asked seemed disappointed, and the others began to back off instinctively. "You're a Prime? Are these two people you've summoned?"

"No. Just ones I happened to meet." Aang said. "Look, we've been flying for a while, and we really just want to visit the city. Buy some stuff, take in the view."

"It's a shame. Flying beasts like your mount would be grand additions to Camelot's military force." 

The first speaker sighed, "Very well, if you're not here to make trouble, we don't want to cause a stir with a Prime. I take it you're here for the Dante's Abyss tournament?"

"Dante's Abyss?" Aang asked. 

Lysandra perked up, "Oh, I've heard about them. They were a big deal, the last few years. It's a Prime-only competition, mostly."

"A competition?" Chakravartin asked, very interested. 

"A kind of game, where Primes fight each other for prizes." the knight informed them. The knights then turned on their pegasi, heading back for the edge of town, and Aang urged Appa lower towards the city as well. 

They had arrived in Minas Tirith.

[Alex Mercer]

Aang was left with his thoughts as they approached the capital. A competition? It was about fighting... but if it was not to the death, then maybe?

No. It was wrong and Airbender traditions abhore violence.

On the OTHER hand... Aang was more than just an Airbender, he was the Avatar. Firebenders would love this level of competition. Come to think of it, every other nation would have this type of event in some way or another.

Training. That's what it could be. Those men had called it a game. Hardly a thought on his past friends would tell him that Toph and Sokka would approve, for the sheer fact that it was a competition. Katara... was hit or miss. She did not back down to Master Paku, but then again had a cautious streak that could tamp down that ambition of hers, given the right provocation...

Aang looked at his hand. He peered out over the city. With a deep breath, he exhaled two plumes of fire from his nostrils. "I think we should sign up... for this Abyss game." Chakravartin had the most surprised look Aang had ever seen on him. "We really should see how other Primes measure up, and what better way than a Prime-Only competiton? Plus... maybe we meet some new allies there?" Maybe some old ones... "It'll give us a chance to train, and maybe with the winnings we can... I donno... regain some of our former glory?"

"We could team up... Till the end. Then we can see who's grown the fastest." Aang's face broke into a grin. "See which fist is greater." As a show, he brought the Stone Glove from his hip, where it clinched and crunched, mimicing Aang's own gesture. Clearly he could not control them without focus, but the stone was still stone. Aang could lose one and keep going, remake another, fight longer with it.

Chakravartin smirked. "Count me in. May the best Avatar win?"

"May the best Avatar win." Aang offered a hand. Chakravartin accepted. Competitive spirits were ignited.

Lysandra awkwardly chimes in; "I'll watch Appa and Momo while you guys are gone..."