Wandering Firebender

Five: Blind Trust

"Hey, Elio! Back for another day, huh?" Autumn smiled.

Elio stepped into the lobby feeling groggy and tired. After the incident last night with the Blind Bandit, he spent most of the night preparing to get attacked again. And even though an attack never came, he did not get much sleep as a result, which was now causing him to be late for work.

"Mhmm, yeah," He answered with a yawn, rubbing the stinging sleepiness out of his eyes. "I'm ready as I'll ever be."

"Yeah? You don't look so good though." She observed.

"What makes you say that?" Elio asked, brushing his nappy hair back. It awkwardly sprung back up and curled back down over his eyes. Autumn made a face at him.

"Just observing. C'mon, let's get going!" She said, taking his hand and pulling him along.

"Huh? What about reporting in the morning? Where is everyone?" Elio asked, looking around and realizing that they were the only ones in the lobby. She pulled him outside.

"Yeah, you missed the opening meeting. The boss told us that from now on going forward, everyone working at the Beifong residence will be meeting outside their gates in the morning. Everyone went along already, but I figured since you didn't get the memo, you'd show up here." She explained.

"Oh, I see. How thoughtful." Elio said with a yawn.

Autumn raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing else.

Working with limited rest in the heat was probably one of the worst feelings Elio had ever had the displeasure of experiencing. As if the work wasn't already bad enough, now he had to resist the urge to fall asleep on the floor.

"Need some help getting that stone in place, kid?" Tay offered to help, seeing that he was being very sluggish in sliding over a wide marble stone to place in the walkway.

"Hmm? No no, I got it." Elio politely refused, curling his fingers around the edges of the stone.

He awkwardly lifted it up just enough to bring it over its spot. He dropped one side down and dragged it into its spot. He let the other side go and it dropped down with a thud in its spot. Elio gave Tay a thumbs-up, but Tay just looked at him strangely.

"What's up with your new boyfriend?" Sen asked Autumn, "He's slowing us down."

"He's not my boyfriend, Sen, and I'm not sure what's wrong with him," She answered. "He seemed fine up until now. Something must've gone down between now and last night after we left the tournament." She guessed.

"Uhuh, well just tell him he needs to work faster." He replied dismissively, rolling his eyes.

"Why don't you tell him, since you're apparently the one in charge now?" Autumn snapped, annoyed by Sen's attitude. He just scoffed at her.

"If I were in charge, I'd just send him home. He's clearly not fit to be here today." He shrugged.

"Ah!" Elio yelped in pain, dropping the stone he had just picked up. He held onto his wrist and exhaled sharply in pain.

"What happened, kid?" Tay asked quickly.

"Nothing nothing, I was just being stupid. I bent my wrist awkwardly picking up one of the stones." Elio grumbled, moving his wrist around. He could feel the numbness starting to make its way up his forearm.

"Tch, pathetic, dude. Why would you even take this job if you're that weak?" Sen insulted him. Autumn quickly elbowed him in the arm.

"Shut your mouth, Sen! It was an honest mistake!" She defended him.