The one-eyed Avatars

Chapter 2

  Lovino let out a high-pitched scream of pain, followed by a hiss when he put his hand into the pond to cool his burn. He had tried forming a fireball, as the book had told him to, but the flame had obviously not been under control. It was alright, at least Lovino now had something to work with, although he wasn't sure what to do yet, or what the meaning of all of this was.
  That however didn't change anything about the fact that his hand hurt like hell and there was going to be a burning mark on his hand. He'd hide it later with a bandage or something.

  Just when he wanted to start trying to form a ball of fire again, he heard a voice behind him, as well as a blue-greenish glimming of light.
   "You're learning quickly. You can be proud of yourself" the glimming person said.
  Lovino turned around to see who was speaking. It was a boy, just about Lovino's age, clothed in odd clothing that seemed to have the function to cool the body down.
  Was it spiritual projection? No, that technique was very difficult and this boy didn't look like an airbender. "Who are you?" Lovino asked, but the younger teen already vanished slowly, whispering the words:

   "Your spiritual connection is too weak, Lovino"

  Lovino looked at the particles emerging into the sky with shock and mostly confusion, what was the meaning of this? He did have the feeling that he had seen that guy somewhere, or perhaps he had seen a picture of him? But where would he see a picture of a boy like him? And why? Where did he know Lovino's name from?

  He had never needed a strong spiritual connection and he wasn't a natural at it like his brothers, plus he had never been very interested in the sprit world, so what was the point? What had that teenager wanted to tell him?
  The sun started going down soon and Lovino decided to leave the small valley for the second time this day, leaving the book he had borrowed under a stone.

  Back at the temple and the small town, on the way to which he had produced some flames on top of his fingers as practice, his father was already waiting for him. The man in his late thirties looked at his son worriedly, though he obviously tried being angry instead.
   "Lovino, where were you?" the monk asked, still not able to hide the worry in his voice, the worry Lovino was so blind for.
   "I was just strolling around padre" the teenager answered, looking down and hiding his burnt hand in his trousers' pocket.
  His father sighed and closed his eyes before hugging his son, not guessing how much Lovino needed it. Not even Lovino knew how much he needed it and if, he only was aware subconsciously.
   "Let's go inside, dinner will soon begin" the man said, leading his son inside with a hand on his back, which almost felt uncomfortable and alien to the teenager.

  In the large communal dining room of the temple there were several tables, many monks were already sitting down, some were helping setting the tables. Lovino saw his brothers helping, they were both wearing traditional nomad's festivity clothing, yellow and red. He decided that he should wear something else as well, not the casual shirt and poncho against the cold, especially now that there were soot stains on it, so he quickly went to his room to put something else on. It wasn't expected that he wore traditional nomad festivity clothing, but he probably should, he knew that. Anyway, he didn't want to. He took a black shirt and chic pants out of the closet, putting them on. He looked more modern, perfect. To cover his burn he wrapped a bandage around his hand, it hurt a bit, but it was alright.

  The teenager returned to the dining room, seeing that the represantatives from the New Republic Territory had arrived while he was away. The blonde man, Ludwig, Lovino believed, was sitting across from his brother which bugged him for some reason, he also noticed that Roma, their grandfather, was looking at them every now and then as if he was curious.
  Two big felines were sitting in a corner, one of them a scary tigerdillo. How was that even possible, they were untamable, weren't they?
  In the same corner there were two dogs, larger than the average of their breeds. All four animals were eating, but Lovino tried ignoring the creatures.