Avatar: The Wheel of Time | Book One: The Earth Kingdom |

Chapter 14: Decisions

I wish I had money, I thought, gazing longingly at the little stone statuettes lining the shelves. If my friends were here, we'd pool our money and buy the biggest thing in the shop. In this case, it would be the giant bear looming in the corner. I hated to think of the price tag on that. Was it even for sale?

"Can I help you with anything?" asked a man with the shop's logo stitched onto his tunic and a nametag that read Tao. An employee? The shop owner?

"Who makes all these?" I asked.

"Mostly Master Yang," Tao replied, "although he lets us make a couple just to fill the shelves. I made this little guy," he proudly picked a stone sand shark off the shelf and handed it to me. I flipped it over to run my fingers along the curve of its spine.

"How do you get the stone this thin without breaking it?" I asked, tapping the fins gently.

"Earthbending," Tao smiled. He took the sand shark back, replacing it on the shelf.

My mouth dropped open. "You get this level of detail with earthbending?!" I plucked a raccoon crow from its perch, inspecting its curious expression and slightly tilted head. The feathers on the wings were sculpted to perfection, and even its mask was discernible, despite the stone being the same color throughout. No, not sculpted. Bended. 

"We're highly trained," Tao said. "You don't work here unless you're a skilled earthbender."

Well, I guess getting a job here was out of the question. Pity... my friends would love this place. If I ever saw Aimi again, I'd have to tell her about it. Earthbending used for art? She would love that. She'd probably pester Lihua into trying it, and then find a way to use her firebending for art as well.

Then again, who said it was out of the question? I was an earthbender. I just needed training.

"How do you get so good?" I asked. "Who trains you? And do they take new students?"

Tao's eyebrows lifted slightly. "Are you an earthbender?"

I hesitated. "Yes," I said finally. I guess it was habit; I still thought of myself as a waterbender.

"Master Yang teaches us the finer points of it, but we learn the basics from other teachers. I can get you a flier for my old master if you like," he offered.

I nodded. "Yes, please." Even if I didn't take a job here, or even see this master, it couldn't hurt to have a pamphlet.

"Just a moment," Tao excused himself, exiting through a back door marked Staff Only.

I watched the door slide shut, concealing the messy tables behind covered in half-finished sculptures. I regarded the sculpture in my hand, again admiring the intricate detail. I really should've demanded a share of that White Lotus money from Zuko before I left. This was the sort of thing I could never find when looking for a birthday gift for Aimi.

The door to the shop burst open and I jumped, almost dropping the raccoon crow sculpture. Four people bundled in, hurriedly slamming the door shut behind them. They seemed startled to see me.

I stared. A dark look crossed the man's face and he reached for something at his belt, but the woman held out a hand to stop him.

"Please, we need to hide," she panted, clutching the other two people close to her chest. One was a girl who looked a few years younger than me, and the other a boy who reminded me strongly of Lee. The real Lee, that is—not Zuko. He clung to a small loaf of bread, and my heart swelled with sympathy.

I nodded.

The man led the others past me, towards the Staff Only door.

"Don't go back there!" I cried, "There's someone in there. You can hide in here," I offered, opening a cabinet that turned out to be filled with even more shelves of stone creatures. I closed it just as quickly.