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Ming's grandfather (well technically great-grandfather) had not spoken in a century. It was just a simple fact, a part of life - some little oddity about their family that everyone in the village knew about and no one really minded. After all, her grandfather was a man of great honor. Fire Lord Sozin himself had awarded him with a Medal of Honor and ownership over a small but fertile patch of land, because he had been part of many battles at the beginning of the war and survived all of them. Her grandfather was a man of great honor, thus, the fact that he chose to remain silent was never something people scoffed about. Neither was the fact that he'd rather spend his days playing Pai Sho with servants, travelers and his mute granddaughter rather than leading the estate or serving the royal family as a Royal Advisor - a position he had held in the beginning of Fire Lord Azulon's reign but only for a couple of years before he retired. Much, so Ming had been told by her uncle Itō, to the late Fire Lord's dismay.
"He may not look like it but your great-grandfather is one of the greatest fire benders of his generation," Ming's fire bending teacher, a man named Shun, would tell her whenever they walked past the pavilion on the way to the training grounds. This was the pavilion her grandfather liked to sit in and drink tea or watch the birds and where Ming would sit with him in her free time, stitching and reading. It was the most peaceful place on Earth, in her humble opinion. Shun would stop for a moment to look at Ming's grandfather, who would never take notice of them only continue with whatever it was he was doing, and then at her, and he would smile: "So even if you don't look like it either that doesn't mean you can't be the greatest fire bender of yours, young Mistress."
If Ming could laugh, she would. Every time he said that. Her? The greatest fire bender of this generation? With her inconsistent flame and steep competition like Princess Azula? That was absolutely ridiculous. She was lucky enough that she could light a candle in the family shrine and slightly heat up her father's soup whenever it got cold because he forgot to eat over his massive amount of paperwork.
The only reason she had not yet given up was because whenever she was able to show him a new trick her grandfather would smile; ever so slightly. It was the only emotion other than sorrowful longing that she had ever seen on his face - that her own father had ever seen on his face. Back when grandmother (her actual grandmother, great-grandfather's only daughter) was still alive she had started crying tears of joy the first time she had seen her father smile at one of Ming's little tricks. Grandmother had told Ming to never give up on her flame, no matter how small, because this small light made her grandfather happy.
Ming was very determined to bring as many little smiles to her grandfather's face as possible.
The day grandmother had died grandfather had looked up to the sky, to the Sun shining warm and brightly, and looked even more sorrowful than she had ever seen him before. Ming wondered how much it must hurt him, to outlive his last child - all her granduncles had passed away even before she had been born, most of them in battle, only one of old age. When uncle Itō died on the front in the siege of Ba Sing Se, she couldn't help but ask herself how it felt to outlive his oldest grandchild. She didn't ask herself how it must feel to outlive his first great-grandchild when Ming's older brother Yao, barely seventeen years old, fell on the front lines as well because she was too busy crying her eyes out in grandfather's expensive robes to think much about his feelings. The feeling of his warm hands running through her black hair and his steady heartbeat inside his chest had at least been able to ground her just a little bit.
After that day grandfather had started playing Pai Sho with her. He even had gifted her her own set of stones and taught her all there was to know. No words needed. There were never words needed between the two of them. Grandfather had chosen not to speak. Ming was born without the ability to. They could still communicate, better and more clearly than anyone.
Ming was not very good at Pai Sho, she lost constantly not only against her grandfather but against anybody she challenged like Miss Kani the senior gardener or Master Ting the village healer but both of them had confessed to her in private that they were convinced that it was her Pai Sho that his grandfather enjoyed playing the most. She just didn't understand why. Wouldn't it be more fun to play against someone who actually knew how to play the game? Still, she complied and never complained. If Pai Sho was what made her grandfather happy, if her Pai Sho made her grandfather happy, then she would play it until she was old and gray, even if she never got any better at it.
There were two days each year on which Ming was not allowed to see her grandfather and on which he could not be found inside the pavilion. One of them was the anniversary of the beginning of the war, the day on which Fire Lord Sozin had harnessed the power of a comet to start the war. While their family celebrated with good food and music (pretty morbid if you asked Ming but no one ever really did) her grandfather was nowhere to be found. She had heard that he was in the family shrine all day, from the earliest morning hours to way after dawn. Why he did that and what he was doing there Ming didn't know. Once she tried to hide from her caretakers, so that she could wait until grandfather came out of the family shrine again but alas Yao had found her and dragged her back to the main house. Unlike her he had never been the curious type. Maybe that was why he had enrolled into the army as soon as he was old enough, even though father had said he had already organized a pardon. Yao hadn't been curious, he had been stubborn and fiercely loyal to the Fire Lord. His fire had burnt bright and steady and now it was burning no more.
The other day on which Ming was not allowed to see her grandfather was on the anniversary of Ming's great-grandmother's death. On this day grandfather would not leave his quarters, doors and windows remained closed, the curtains drawn up. All that could be heard was the sound of a flute. On no other day in the year did grandfather ever touch the flute. Maybe because the sound it produced was even more sorrowful than the look in his eyes. Every year on this day Ming thought that she finally understood how it must feel to outlive everyone you ever loved but honestly deep down she knew that she would never understand.
Her grandfather was old, one hundred and fifteen to be exact, and he had already outlived most of his own descendants. Out of all of them only Ming, her father and the daughter from one of her granduncles, whom she did not know very well as she was too busy being a General and in service of Fire Lord Ozai, were left. But she fell too during the second invasion of Ba Sing Se. It must be lonely seeing all those people he loved with his entire being die, starting with his own wife. Ming wondered what he thought of the war that had kept robbing him of his family over and over again.
Maybe that's why he couldn't bear staying in Fire Lord Azulon's service, ignoring whatever offer he would get. Maybe that was why he had shoved Fire Lord Sozin's medal into the backmost corner of the family shrine, never sparing it even one glance. Maybe that was why he didn't offer any fire during Fire Lord Ozai's coronation and left the deed to Uncle Itō instead. Maybe that was why he refrained from speaking or the display of emotions. Maybe the war, even after he had returned from it with the greatest honor, kept on breaking him. Ming knew she could have brought up her questions and grandfather would have answered - in his own way that only she could understand - but something kept her from doing so. Maybe she feared that she would only wake sleeping memories and hurt him even further. Grandfather was old, so very old, he deserved the evening of his life to be a peaceful one.
The day Ming turned nineteen years old, two years older than her brother ever got to be, the sun went dark. A messenger from the capital had arrived a few days earlier informing the village and ordering everyone to remain indoors on the Day of the Black Sun.
And so they stayed indoors and Ming didn't spend her nineteenth birthday with a boring and overwhelming celebration but instead sitting across from her grandfather in his quarters as he taught her the ways of a new Pai Sho gambit. One that, so he insisted, would bring her many friends all over the world, should she ever make the decision to travel. Ming didn't understand what he meant, even after all those years she felt like she knew nothing about Pai Sho, but she learnt the rules of the gambit, the White Lotus Gambit as she learned, regardless.
She had seen her grandfather play it with travelers and merchants and with the wandering swordmaster who used to come to their house once every autumn until the year uncle Itō died. Going by this logic they must have been grandfather's friends then. Even though grandfather never wrote or replied to letters except for very important official ones. Even though nobody he had known in his youth should even still be alive. Even though no one from amongst staff had ever seen these visitors before and in most cases ever again.
The swordmaster was the exception but as far as Ming was aware, that man was a man of many legends too. She had not seen him in almost ten years but out of all the people her grandfather would play the White Lotus Gambit with, he had always seemed like one of the friendlies and that was despite the fact that he never talked much and only ever played one game of Pai Sho with grandfather each visit. Ming had the feeling that he had always been grandfather's second favorite Pai Sho partner. It was a shame he hadn't been here in so long.
By the time the Day of the Black Sun came to an end Ming knew the placement of each stone in this new gambit by heart, backwards and forwards and even blind. She could sign the right words that should normally be spoken out loud after the Gambit was placed and she knew the questions that were to be asked. It was all very intriguing. Though that was not what the day came to an end with. Just as she was about to rise from her seat and wish her grandfather a good night, her father came into the room with to the report of a new messenger sent to their village from the capital, which told them of an all out invasion lead by the Avatar on the capital city and the ultimate defeat of the invaders by Fire Lord Ozai. Ming could have sworn she saw a new expression pass over her grandfather's face upon the reception of this news. Surprise. But it wasn't there long enough for her to be sure.
What she didn't know yet was that it was this message that, figuratively and literally speaking, set a great change into motion and nothing would ever be the same again for her thereafter. For once, her father was called to the capital. A direct order he could not refuse even though as a non bender he had never been of great interest to the Fire Lord. Why him and what for, he refused to tell her or grandfather. He was gone the next morning, having only taken the bare necessities with him. When the notary came to their door just half a month later and asked to speak to the head of the family about the administration of Lieutenant Jiang's probate, Ming knew that the war had now taken her father from her as well. It was the first time she had ever seen her grandfather cry, his arms shaking as he drew Ming into an embrace, her silent wailing muffled by the heavy fabric of his clothes. The notary bowed his head and waited quietly and patiently, still holding onto the will of Ming's father. Unlike when uncle Itō died, or uncle Naozin or uncle Rokoh or any of Ming's granduncles or even when Yao died, the notary did not say anything along the lines of: 'He died with honor'. Nothing of the sort. There was no cause of death given, no date, no body, nothing. Only father's will with which they were left alone after the notary returned home.
As Ming got to her feet in order to fetch a binder for the papers, she was weak on her feet and swaying like someone who had drunk a little too much and feeling her inner flame weaker than ever before. Grandmother, Yao, Mother, her uncles, aunts, cousins, grandaunts and granduncles and now, now her father too. All gone. All fallen. She was the last in her grandfather's line. The very last. Only a couple of years more and she would be all alone.
She never got far enough to get the binder, her legs gave out and she only remained unhurt because grandfather caught her and despite his age brought her into her room himself, put her to bed. His old eyes were dim and tired, as he closed her windows and curtains, put out the candle and waited by her bedside until the exhaustion took her under.
The next morning she woke with a fever, which lasted for a week. Ming's memory of those seven days was hazy but she did remember grandfather visiting her now and then. She remembered someone singing for her but she couldn't tell who it was. She recalled dreaming about her grandfather, when he was younger and carefree and she dreamt of him in flying high above the clouds, his laughter mingling with that of another boy and a feeling of warmth and the wind in grandfather's face. There were nightmares too, of course, of fire and smoke. She saw ash rain down from the heavens sullying the snow in endless tundras of ice, on steep mountain tops and the waters of rivers running through plains and small forests. There was always so much fire, ash and smoke. She had never seen these places but she remembered them in her dreams and when she woke, it was to the death cries of many thousands ringing loudly in her ears. She dreamt of her grandfather, now a young man, running through burning houses, battlefield after battlefield, yelling for something or someone but she never recalled the name of the person or if grandfather managed to find them. The sky above him burnt - it was always burning.
After a week the fever went down and she woke to a dark house. The sun had not yet risen but she felt a pull that told her to get up, and get up quickly. To go find her grandfather.
On bare feet and in darkness she wandered the empty hallway that was supposed to be filled with light and the laughter of her family, those dead and those who never had the chance to be born. Her own breath was too loud for her own ears. In the end she found him in his pavilion, dressed not in his usual robes but in a set of old worn travel garbs, there were two bags with him. One for him and one for Ming. On his knees was his old sword, the one which the swordmaster had complimented him on, the one she had never seen grandfather use.
Ming felt sick in her stomach upon the sight. Realization settling in. They were leaving. Grandfather was planning on leaving with her. He looked up when she approached him and gestured to another set of travel clothes, which by the looks of it must at some point have belonged to Yao. Ming wanted to hesitate, to question her grandfather's decision but the pull was still there and it was still urging her to hurry up .
They were leaving. They could not stay. For whatever reason.
Ming was too afraid to ask. They were at the heart of the Fire Nation, she was from an honored and highly regarded family, her grandfather was a war hero. What evil could befall them here? Who possibly could wish them any harm? What had happened to her father?
Her grandfather was hundred and fifteen years old, he had not spoken to any family members in over a century, he barely exercised beyond his morning walks. Ming had never seen him run or fight and yet, when soldiers - soldiers wearing the Fire Lord's insignia! - tried to stop them as they left the estate; he moved gracefully, precisely and didn't allow himself to make any mistakes. Almost like he was dancing. His fire was hot and steady, but very deadly. Ming didn't like watching people die, so she closed her eyes and let grandfather pull her along. Out of her home, the village, away from everything and all she had ever known.
The next morning the sky started burning. Sozin's comet had returned. It was the hundred year anniversary of the war. This awful war. Grandfather looked grave and grim up at the comet crossing the sky, Ming couldn't stare at it for nearly as long as he. It burnt her eyes but thanks to the comet this was the first time Ming felt her inner flame surging and like it could do more than just lighten a candle. She didn't want to try it out.
As they traveled they heard many rumors.
The war was over. Fire Lord Ozai had fallen. At last the Avatar defeated him. The Crown Princess Azula was in prison. The war was over. Crown Prince Zuko had returned. The war was over. By the end of the week there would be a new Fire Lord. The war was over.
They joined a group of travelers who wished to see the coronation in the capital. Grandfather remained silent but in the evenings he would take out his Pai Sho stones and play round after round against anyone who was willing. So did Ming. The victories she managed to achieve felt not as grand as she had hoped. She used the White Lotus Gambit twice. The first time on Kara who was traveling with her brother Ling. The second time on an escaped war prisoner from the Earth Kingdom who went by the name Bao. All three remained close to her and her grandfather from then onwards, and in turn grandfather made sure to protect them from all harm. Ming was glad that grandfather had been right. The White Lotus really brought her friends from all over the world.
On the seventh day after the return of the comet, after the end of the war, they reached the capital. Ming had never been in Caldera. Her father had only ever told her so much, Yao even less. Neither of them had liked it here very much. Ming understood. She missed the fields and forests of her home.
The way through the capital to the Fire Palace, where they intended to watch Fire Lord Zuko's coronation was slow and tiring, even more than anything she had endured over the last week. Thankfully grandfather had remained out of sight for so long that nobody alive still recognised them. For all they cared he was just an old man. Perhaps that was for the best. At least the sun shone and it was warm. That made everything more bearable.
After Fire Lord Zuko's speech ended the crowd in the courtyard loosened up a little, forming individual groups that were brimming with voices, laughter and happy reunions.
Ming followed grandfather to a large group of people surrounding the Avatar. She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he was just a kid. A thirteen year old boy. She thought of Yao and all the other children who had fought and died in this war. It made her skin crawl. She was so glad this whole mess was over. No more children would need to die now.
The look on grandfather's face could only be interpreted as anxious. She hadn't known her grandfather could even get anxious. His eyes however remained fixed on the small, bald figure of the Avatar dressed in those really heavy looking yellow airbender robes. Was he… anxious because of the Avatar? But why would he? Was it because he had fought in the war? Ming blinked as it dawned on her, slowly. Oh, it was… he was…
Her grandfather had fought in the war right as it had started, during the first time Sozin's comet had granted the Fire Lord enough power to attack entire nations and wipe them out. Specifically the airnomads. Avatar Aang's people. Grandfather had earned a medal of honor for his deeds, for his participation in many vital battles.
She tugged at her grandfather's sleeve, then moved her hands to sign: ' Do you want to apologize to him?'
He nodded slowly.
'Don't be scared, I'm sure he'll see that you are truly sorry, grandfather. Also I'll be right next to you. We are family. We stick together.'
He smiled a very very small smile.
Together they moved along with the crowd. There was some sort of order here and instead of trying to figure out how it worked mingyand grandfather decided to move along with it. Sooner or later they would hopefully be able to see the Avatar.
Ming soon stood shoulder to shoulder with people from all nations - well all remaining nations - though it was very clear that as citizens of the Fire Nation they were clearly in the minority. There were a lot of people from the Earth Kingdom here though. Grandfather held tightly onto Ming's hand, as if she was still a little girl and he was afraid to lose her in the crowd.
"Of course we will come visit you! Right Katara?" They heard the Avatar say to a young man from the Earth Kingdom. The Water Tribe girl next to the Avatar nodded and said something that Ming didn't quite catch. The Avatar smiled brightly and the Earth Kingdom man bowed. So and in similar fashion it went and it turned out the Avatar was, from all that Ming could observe, a very kind boy. Kind of like the kitchen boy Lee. Yao would have definitely gotten along with him. Yao. She held back a sigh. That was all in the past. She... she would have enough opportunities to try and work through all that. Now, she had to help her grandfather work through his guilt first.
Another ten minutes later there was only one person left between them and the Avatar. Grandfather was staring straight ahead. His gaze was somewhere between worry, fear and something that Ming would call desperate anticipation. So many emotions. Ming didn't understand where they had been hiding all those years.
"Hello!" Avatar Aang said as the line before them became free. Even though he had been here for at least an hour he didn't seem tired at all and his smile of excitement upon meeting them was absolutely genuine. Ming bowed politely and next to her her grandfather did the same, albeit his movements were a little more stiff.
"You are from the Fire Nation," the Water Tribe girl, Katara, Ming remembered, said, deliberately neural. Ming nodded because yes that was the truth.
"Katara, please," the Avatar said holding up his hands in a sign of peace. "We are at peace now. I don't want to treat anyone differently just because they are from the Fire Nation… and you're making the old Master worried."
Hoping that it would help them Ming fished her White Lotus Tile out of her pocket and held it out to Katara. It had the power to help you find friends all over the world. The girl took the tile carefully.
"You… oh," she said quietly, turning the tile in her hands. "I guess you're not that bad then."
Avatar Aang clapped into his hands and smiled brightly. "Even better! All the members of the White Lotus are our friends. What are your names?"
'Ming', she drew her name into the air, then signed, hoping with all of her heart that he could understand, 'I'm mute, my grandfather hasn't talked in a long time.'
"Ah," the Avatar said and started grinning, "Well that's fine! Back when I was younger - eh, well, you know a hundred years ago - my friend Kuzon taught me how to read Fire Nation sign languag, so I can understand you! It's very nice to meet you, Miss Ming and your grandfather too!"
At the mention of the name Kuzon several bells in Ming's head started ringing. Her head snapped up and she couldn't help but stare in wide eyed wonder over at her grandfather. The old man had gone very still. There were so many emotions in his eyes now that it was difficult to name even one of them. Oh. She recalled her fever dreams. She did her mental math. It checked out. Oh Agni.
"Is he alright, Miss Ming?" Katara asked, worriedly. Ming shook her head, lifting her hands to sign: 'I think he waited a very, very long time to see you again, Avatar Aang and now he has no idea what to do.'
"See me again?" Aang repeated, then he turned his full attention to grandfather, as if he was trying to find something about him that helped him remember: "Ha… have we met before?"
Grandfather swallowed.
"When I was young, you visited…" he said and Ming might have broken down crying right there and then because he spoke! He spoke! But she needed to keep herself together, for grandfather because this was important to him. He had waited so long. Hesitantly grandfather continued but no more than one sentence came out before the hudnred years of silence made themselves noticeable and he couldn't speak any further. He said: "Aang, we went looking for dragons…"
Aang blinked. For a moment he was so still that the people around them started to worry. Ming started to worry. Grandfather started to tremble a little. She held onto his arm, hoping that the Avatar would remember.
Then suddenly, the Avatar started crying; big round tear blobs escaped his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He wished them away with the sleeves of his robes but they kept coming. Eventually he seemed to give up and instead flung himself at Ming's grandfather. The old man stumbled from the impact but kept holding onto the Avatar, allowing the boy to wrap around him like an octopus-monkey. To his luck Ming was there as well as a couple of people from the surrounding crowd, who stepped forward to help him keep his balance. Her grandfather was one hundred and fifteen after all, no matter how strong he might seem.
"Kuzon!" The boy exclaimed between full on sobbs, loud enough for Ming and well most other people around to hear. "You're alive! Kuzon !"
"I waited… I promised…" grandfather replied, voice hoarse and heavy with so many emotions, "I promised I'd be there when… when you came back to the Fire Nation. But when I heard about Sozin's attack I… I went looking. During every battle I looked. I couldn't find you but I knew you weren't gone. They called me a war hero but I'm not…. I waited."
Through his tears Ming could see her grandfather smile.
Ming's grandfather had not spoken in a century. It was just a simple fact, a part of life - some little oddity about their family that everyone of their friends knew about and no one really minded. He had chosen not to speak, because silence made it easier to endure the long years of waiting for someone to come back who had been declared dead. Because it made outliving the people he loved bearable. But now Ming's grandfather spoke again because the wait was over and he was reunited with the only one of his old friends he didn't outlive.