Chapter 1: The Runaway

Omashu, Oma Kingdom

The sky above the massive palace of the Oma Kingdom was empty of any clouds, the radiant sun was positioned in the center of the sky. The temperature of the environment went from a cool one to a hotter one. Each week during the summer had gotten a bit more intense, some of the citizens hid under awnings in the markets around the city so they could cool off. There had also been an increase in heatstroke reports in the city since the summer returned.

The royal guards stood vigilant in their spots as the staunch protectors of the palace grounds. Two emissaries from the Qiangda Kingdom were greeted and escorted inside. The man and woman wore light green robes accented with teal, their shoes were also teal. When the palace doors opened they minced inside to meet with the sitting Earth King of the Oma Kingdom, King Gao Zu.

The old king relaxed on his throne with his fingers crossed into each other and his head rested on a bolster pillow. When he saw the emissaries enter he sat upright on his throne to receive the guests. He smiled slightly and welcomed them, "Welcome to the grand city of Omashu, the seat of the Oma Kingdom."

The woman clutched the corners of her robes and knelt before the Oma King as did her partner. Gao spoke, "You may rise."

"We're here on a diplomatic quest for our King Qiang Zhen, we are here to negotiate on peace as per the treaty rules," the woman mentioned.

"I always look forward to these meetings, the time for peace and unification is now," commented Gao.

Naoren returned from an outing somewhere in the palace and bowed before Gao then apologized, "Oh I apologize, Tiazu, I wasn't aware our guests had arrived."

"No, no it's fine, you came at the right moment. I was going to have Shu over there drag you out of the latrine," Gao shook his head and pointed behind him to his right as he pointed at one of the royal guards behind the throne who sat in a dark corner as he stared into nothingness.

Hui exited the right-wing of the palace where all the chambers were for himself, Gao, and Naoren he padded out then jumped back into the hall and peeked his head out to see that Gao had visitors. Hui examined the insignia on their backs as the Qian Dynasty coin he knew they were Qiangdian emissaries.

Hui tiptoed into the throne room while Gao was busy discussing things with the emissaries when Naoren noticed the crowned prince. Hui attempted to grab his father's attention even though he was quite busy. Hui waved his hands in the air and tapped the side of his right thumb in the middle of his lips as he hoped Gao would see that he was being called.

Gao looked up but ignored him and continued his conversation. Naoren wasn't aware that Gao was ignoring his son until Hui was more persistent about it. The King's adviser lightly nudged him and cleared his throat and whispered to Gao, "The prince is here. He's trying to grab your attention and he's calling for you."

Gao lowered his head and sighed while the male emissary mentioned, "We're looking forward to things as well, King Qiang Zhen has some sanctions he'd like us to give to y-" he was interrupted when Gao rose his hand and silenced the diplomat.

"What do you want?" he questioned his tight-lipped son. The crowned prince approached the King and spoke, at the same time, the emissaries noticed his presence and took a few steps back. They bowed before the crowned prince when they recognized him. Hui rudely ignored the emissaries and waved his hand at them because he didn't care about them.

"Houshe!" shouted Gao, then he facepalmed at the insolent actions of his son he felt embarrassed because of the way he treated the guests.

Houshe ran out of the right-wing hall of the palace and bowed before Gao, "Yes, Tiazu?" he inquired.

"Speak for the boy," he ordered.

Houshe nodded and glanced back at Hui as he tried to translate his sign language into verbal Kingsmen. Hui continued with his request, Hui pointed at himself, he placed his palm toward the King and then back to himself, he raised his thumb and pink on his left hand and slightly swung it outward, and with both hands, he made sprinkling motions with his fingers pressed against his thumbs.

"The prince says, he wishes to go to Huang He," translated Houshe.

"Huang He? Why would you want to go there?" asked Gao.

"The place reeks of dirty water, smelly Hamis, and weird mystics with the severed hands of Jueyuans for sale," he added. Sure the Oma Kingdom was allied with the Hami tribe of the Si Wong province but Gao Zu never trusted the sandbenders. He hated sandbenders he only associates himself with them for profit.

Hui pointed at himself again, he rose his left hand again stuck out his thumb and index when he pulled down his left hand he curled his index finger. He opened his palms and rotated them close to his lower chest, and he finished his sentence by pointing out the throne room doors.

"He says, he has business to tend to in Huang He," said Houshe.

"What kind of business? Are you dealing with narcotics in the Si Wong again?" Gao wondered then he assumed Hui was dealing drugs like last time.

Hui was confused he scrunched his face in declination and used his left index to wave left to right. Gao knew that this meant 'no', so he continued to poke more information out of the prince's head.

"...wait a minute...you're forbidden from traveling to the Si Wong province, you little runt. I already know your plans!" Gao told Hui.

Hui reacted with visible confusion he looked to Houshe for assistance, "He has no idea what you're talking about," guessed Houshe.

"The courier arrived a few days ago with a letter for you from Huang He, you've been sending love letters to Princess Amira. Don't think I don't know!" revealed Gao.

The emissaries felt they came at the wrong time and so they hid behind a pillar and attempted to wait for the scene to unfold and finish. Hui gasped and stomped his foot angrily, Gao shouted at him, "I order you to stay here and away from those sand pirates!"

Hui crossed his arms and stormed out of the throne room, once he found himself back in his chambers he rummaged through his things and filled a small sack full of some clothing. He searched his clothing for a cloak. It was old, unkempt, and made of rags this was something he often used when he left the palace at odd hours. He's left the palace from time to time to go about his business not only outside of the city but also within.

He removed his sangtuwan and left it on his bed he already had a plan in mind because he suspected Gao would disapprove of the idea of seeing Princess Amira. But they've held a close connection to each other since childhood. Hui had a mission and his father wasn't going to get in his way, after all, she was the only one who understood him. In the later afternoon, Hui skulked off toward the escape tunnel in the right-wing of the palace.

This tunnel led to the harbor at the bottom of the chasm that surrounded the city of Omashu. Once he pushed the grate open he filled his lungs with the briny sea air. The harbor was mostly a vast boardwalk where homes were built on the edges of it and everyone had a small boat or a huge ship. The navy stationed the ships on one side nearest to the bay for easy access while the fishermen usually fished within the chasm's waters. He did his best to hide his face so he wouldn't be recognized and ran for the lift on the southern end.

It was operated by earthbenders who pushed the lift upward until it reached the edge of the chasm. There were half walls built around the edge to prevent people from falling to their deaths, a solution that prevented a rising number of deaths such as that. Once he reached the top he was onward to his journey to the Si Wong province. Along the way, about an hour or so, he encountered a merchant caravan with guards.

A few hours from riding the caravan they made a stop at the border village between Omashu and Shiwei called Huangshan. Hui found himself staring down the roadways in the evening but found it uninteresting to venture further into the village. Instead, he went in the opposite direction and headed toward the border between the two provinces which was about half a mile away from the village. He traveled alongside the mountain edge.

Half an hour through his journey he heard a wail off in the distance at first he believed it to be a nu yao ghost. He leaped into a bush and cowered in fear but a few minutes passed by until he heard someone yelled for help. He snuck off toward the sound he remained in the shadows and behind some brush several feet from where he hid he saw a young woman around his age on the ground.

She was surrounded by four men possibly daofei he thought, he remained hidden out of sight as he watched further. The first thought that came into mind is it could be a trap for him and the woman was with the daofei. Then he slapped himself and realized something was wrong, the men laughed amongst themselves the young woman terrified she continued to scream for help. But no aid arrived for the poor girl.

"Me next, me next!" one of the men shouted, all the others made sexually advancing comments to their victim. The young woman stretched her hand out to grab the battleax just a few inches from her grasp. The daofei stepped on her hand and used the other foot to drag her weapon away a bit farther. The leader of the group held the girl by the legs. She kicked and screamed and wouldn't allow him to do anything.

The other bandit who was eager to be next attempted to remove her britches from her body. Hui scanned the environment as he concocted a plan. He needed to act fast or he'd never forgiven himself, she shrieked louder than ever before as her britches were now below her waist and above her pelvic area. The leader of the group who held onto her legs suddenly dropped them and collapsed to the ground. The other who was removing her britches was concerned perhaps his leader died of a sudden aneurysm. The other two came closer toward the leader's body and investigated while the girl crawled away slowly still on her back.

They saw that he had a decent-sized hole in his head that wasn't there before, blood poured out like water from a broken fountain. The two that walked forward noticed the girl was no longer nearby and they pulled out their weapons while the other ran over to the girl and watched her. The man closest to the ground sank waist-deep into the ground. He yelped in fear when his earthbender friend glanced back to see him buried halfway.

"There's an earthbender in our midst," he mentioned, the rustling of trees occurred like if a light breeze blew through. Perhaps it wasn't a bender, perhaps it was Yun angry at the men for the crime they were about to commit.

The earthbender slightly grinned and thought he could outsmart the force he ripped a small block of earth out of the ground and kicked it toward the last tree. The tree snapped in half the top part bounced off the ground a few centimeters. From behind him, however, a hole formed in the center of his chest in shock he fell dead on his knees before he slumped over to his right. The barbarian girl grabbed her battleax she buried the blade into the bandit's skull. Hui rolled out from behind the brush, the girl jumped back startled, and held her weapon in front of her.

Her skin was pale, her hair and eye color were light brown, she wore an assortment of thick leathered armor and furs and she wielded a battleax in both hands.

Hui rose his hands up in the air while the girl held her weapon's grip tightly. He pointed at himself slowly and made sure not to make sudden movements. He waved his other hand at her side to side, he pointed down with his left hand, he scrunched up his face and tapped his chin with a curled index finger and then pointed at her.

She rolled her eyes, "Look just because I'm from a barbarian clan doesn't mean I can't understand Kingsmen."

Hui waved his hand at her again and shook his head, he pointed at himself and placed his hand in front of his mouth. The young woman tilted her head because after the continuing hand signs he explained that he couldn't speak. She pointed at Hui and worded out her response as she signed, then she tapped her ear and shrugged. "Are you deaf?"

He repeated his signs and he shook his head and declined, "What? No, I'm not deaf, I'm just silent I can't verbally speak."

"You're...a...a m-mute right?" she guessed.

He slightly rose his hand then arched his eyebrows up and gave her a thumbs-up, he pointed close to her as not to confuse her. He balled a fist and tapped it to his right hand, then gently tapped his lower lip and gave a vague thumbs up and smiled. He separated both hands apart a few inches and pushed them forward. He put his hand to his face close to his mouth, his thumb below his lower lip, his four fingers rested on his left cheek while his lips formed an O shape. He pointed at himself again, he shook his index at her, then pointed at himself, he nodded and then pointed at himself again.

"Well there are better ways of calling me what I am but yes, that's what I am."

Hui spelled out his name "H-U-I", she finally understood while it took her a while it clicked in her head and she responded, "Oh your name is Hui, you're a mut-" she cleared her throat and corrected herself, "You're a silent person...I'm Okhin."

"Oh-Heen," she drawled out the syllables so he could read her lips.

Hui shook his head at her in disapproval then he pointed at himself and used his hand to mimic someone who's speaking. He pointed at himself and then shook his finger at her and held his right palm to his mouth for a few seconds. Hui pointed at himself again and tapped his balled left fist to his open right palm three times before he opened his left fist and separated both hands apart fingers wide. He gave a quizzical expression and moved his hands toward him and far from him and repeated that motion. He pointed two fingers in her direction and then rose the left hand over the right, his left index moved to his left and right before it made contact with the tip of his right index. He wriggled his fingers while his hand rested on his forehead and then used his left hand's index and moved it in front of him right to left.

"I can't talk, I'm not dumb I'm more educated than anyone in this kingdom."

She slowly worded what he signed, "Hui...silent...educated than anyone in the kingdom..." She put her hands on her hips. Her weapon dropped to the ground while she silently thought about the strange young man who couldn't speak.

Okhin pointed at Hui and screamed, "You're the crowned prince! What are you doing here?!"

He raised his left index and stuck out his thumb, he separated this hand from an open palm right hand to measure an imaginary amount of distance. He crossed his left index and left middle finger and twirled them twice while he pursed his lips. He pointed at Okhin and then pointed downward.

"It's a long story but what are you doing here?" he inquired.

"I was visiting a hamlet south of the border, it was raided two days and I was the only one who escaped. Those...men followed me here," she responded.

Hui rose his left index out again and slightly curled it he opened his mouth agape and pointed down and moved his left hand from left to right. He pointed at Okhin again and then he slapped his hand down and used his left index to point at his right pectoral. He rose both index and middle fingers up and below his ears, then he used his left index and ran it across a kind of closed right hand.

"Where are you from? Or headed?" Hui wondered.

"I'm from the Xu province, and I'm coming back from a retrievable favor for a neighbor. I'm heading back there soon," she answered.

Hui shrugged then pointed at himself and smiled, he shooked both hands together and touched both indexes. He pointed at her and then toward the direction of Xu province."Well, let me personally escort you there?"

"You don't have to do that," she chuckled reluctantly about allowing him to tag along. She noticed how ready he was to do it. Hui pointed at himself and then used both hands to wipe up his chest he finished, "It'd be my pleasure."