Wandering Firebender

Ninety Seven: Bonfire

The sun was beginning to set over the Earth Kingdom, casting a golden glow over the walls of Ba Sing Se. The member's of Alger's staff were a bit apprehensive to follow their master out of the city. They hadn't seen the other side of the city walls in a long time.

In fact, a few of them had never seen this side of the wall.

"Sir...some of the men are a bit apprehensive to be...oh my..." Ket trailed off upon seeing Elio's large, imposing airship coming into view. Many eyes fell onto the large Fire Nation insignia on the side of it.

"These are really the guys that helped us with the house?" Alger overheard one of the younger men say under his breath.

"You all know Elio; you've gotten to know him over these past few weeks. I promise you, there is nothing to be worried about. These are good people." Alger said to reassure them all.

The rest of the ride up to Elio's airship was completely silent. As they approached, they saw Elio and some of his men were already outside gathering materials to burn. They were still in the process of arranging things for the gathering, but that didn't stop Elio from coming over to greet everyone.

"Hey, everyone! Welcome! We're glad so many of you could make it!" Elio said with a smile, "Come get comfortable. We're going to get the fire started shortly. And we're grilling some food." He said, clasping his hands together.

"We also brought some drinks." Alger said.

"Oh perfect. Here, bring them this way. We have a table together. We're still gathering chairs right now." Elio mentioned.

"No need. We earthbenders can make sure everyone has enough places to sit." Alger said with a nod.

"Right yeah that's true." Elio realized.

At that moment, everyone's attention was diverted by the sudden flaring of heat and light as some of Elio's men used their bending to get the bonfire started. As the flames cracked and rose up high, some of Alger's men grew more tense.

"Well looks like the fire's started. Make yourselves comfortable!" Elio invited.

There was an indescribable yet palpable tension among Alger's staff as they all slowly approached the bonfire and found their places around it. Elio's men did their best to be inviting and greeted a few of them as they passed by, but they could tell that Elio's men were also staying on guard.

"This is really weird." Delun commented to Elio, observing the awkward scene as it was playing out right in front of them.

"I know what you mean. It'll be alright." Elio said quietly with a reassuring smile.

This time, Elio and his men were the ones who were made to flinch as Alger and the earthbenders created seats of stone around the bonfire. There was a momentary pause from all those present from the Fire Nation before normal activities gradually resumed.

"Hope everyone's hungry!" Sri announced as the chefs of the airship started to bring out trays with different foods. Several other crew members followed behind to help serve everything. This piqued everyone's interest.

"Ohh that smells good," Elio said. He could tell that there was grilled meat being served along with everything else on the menu. "Come get some food, guys! Everyone from Alger's party goes first." He invited them. It took a little bit, but some of them started to get up and make their way over to get food finally.

"Oh wow there's more people here than I thought." Cindra said as she walked over next to Elio.

"Yeah, sorry, people from the Water Tribe will have to get their food last." He said to her jokingly. She shook her head at him and nudged her elbow into his side.