“Haruko!” Riko cried out. By the tone of his voice, he was either in pain or upset about something. Or maybe he was just bored. “Haaaaruuuuukooo!”

I pulled off my work goggles and looked up at Riko. He was exactly where I had left him- sitting on the sofa in the guest waiting area of the mechanic shop. He didn’t look particularly hurt or anything. “What is it?”

“I’m bored.” Riko said, and looked at me like this was the worst news I could’ve heard at this moment. “There’s nothing to do.”

“Can’t you watch the Vidset?” I gestured to the box-shaped machine opposite resting to where Riko was sitting. “There’s gotta be something on.”

“There’s not!” Riko whined, gesturing wildly with his hands t>o exaggerate his point. “It’s just dumb news and stuff.”

“You think?” I set down my tools next to the engine I was supposed to be fixing and walked over to the lounge area Riko was in. “There’s gotta be at least some pro-bending on.”

To call it an actual lounge, or even a room, would have been giving the shop too much credit. The place was simply one of the few areas not occupied with machinery and worktables that Uncle Quan and I had boarded up with some spare plywood a few years ago and filled with some second-hand furniture, the tackiest shag rug I had ever laid eyes onto, and a used Vidset one of our patrons had donated. The box itself was small, old, and had a somewhat prominent crack on the screen, but it still worked.

“Hand me the remote,” I told Riko. He gave it to me as I sat down next to him and turned on the Vidset. Riko was right, most of what was on right now was news about whatever the Avatar was doing now- apparently striking new trade deals with the United Republic. It was pretty boring, especially for a ten-year-old like my younger cousin.

“Huh….” I muttered.

“I told you! Nothing interesting is on!”

I got back up and walked back to the workshop. “Looks like you’re gonna have to find something to do on your own. My shift’s not done for….” I looked at the clock on the wall. “About two more hours.”

Riko fell back onto the couch in exaggerated defeat. “But it’s so booorrrringg and it’s really hot in here.”

I sighed and pressed a hand to my temple. “I’ll tell ya what, you can come hang in the shop with me while I work. There’s a few windows there so it’s a bit cooler.”

Riko’s eyes lit up, almost pleading.

“And you can have one of the lemonades,” I added. While the drinks were usually reserved only for the actual workers after shifts, Uncle Quan didn’t mind if I gave his son a few every now and again.

Riko giddily followed me into the workshop, grabbing a bottled lemonade from the worn-down fridge and sitting at the worktable opposite where I had left my tools.

“Careful,” I chided as I turned on the radio. “Don’t touch anything.”

“I won’t!” Riko said. As I turned back around, I could see him with both hands on his bottle, complying with my request, at least for now.

As I got back to fixing the engine, Riko told me a story about something that happened earlier that day. It was easy to tune him out, thankfully Riko cared more about the act of telling someone something than he did my actual response.

“Hey, Haru!” Someone greeted, interrupting my work once again. I looked up to the window to see Ai Xue from my history class. She was silhouetted by the light coming from outside, but her high ponytail and pitchy voice made her easy to distinguish.

“Hey Ai Xue!” Riko greeted, cheerful as ever.

I removed my goggles out of necessary politeness. ‘What do you want, Ai?”

Ai Xue frowned, leaning slightly on the windowsill. “C’mon Haru, you don’t have to be all mean like that.”

“I’m at work. So do you need your family satomobile fixed or are you wasting my time?”

Ai Xue turned to Riko. “Is she always like this?” She inquired. Of course she knew I was like this, we had known each other since we were kids.

Riko shrugged and took a sip of his lemonade. Ai Xue, seemingly disappointed in his lack of interest, turned back to me.

“Aaanyways Haruko.” She leaned on her hand as she drew out the syllables of her words. “Did ya hear about what was happening downtown?”

“What’s happening downtown?” I asked, thoroughly uninterested. It was better to humor Ai Xue, at least for now, so she might shut up sooner.

“Padma, Jian, and Wei were talking about messing with the merchants down in the market district, y’know, the ones that are fresh from the desert?” Ai Xue explained, paying more attention to her manicured nails than to me. “Figured you might wanna know since you’re… y’know.” She gestured at me, as if I was supposed to gather what she meant from just that. Unfortunately, I did.

I frowned. Knowing Padma and her little group, they had probably orchestrated this entire situation just to mess with me, preying on other native Si Wong people just to provoke me. Padma, like many others, had some sort of vendetta against us, and it was only worsened by her personal rivalry with me. I wouldn’t have put it past her to specifically send Ai Xue to hassle me specifically to provoke me even further, it certainly wouldn’t be unusual for Ai Xue to take a bribe.

I could ignore Padma’s threats, her invitation to a confrontation. But then I risk her actually following through on those threats. Enabling Padma’s terrible habits was not something that sat well with me.

I put down my wrench and faced Ai Xue. “You said they were downtown?”

Ai Xue smiled at me, her eyes narrow and pleased. Padma must’ve been paying her well to provoke me. “Yep. Market district.”

I sighed as I wiped the grease off of my hands. Guess my work would have to wait “Riko, it’s getting late. Go home for dinner, tell Aunt Liling I’ll be out late.”

Riko got down from his stool and started to leave through the back door, still holding his bottled lemonade. “Be careful.”

I waved Riko goodbye, not verbally replying to his request.

Even though it was getting close to nightfall, the sun still beat down on Ai Xue and I, the dry heat turning the rhythmic beat of my heart into a panicked throbbing. The sky was painted a spectacular array of reds and oranges and golden yellows, but all that color was wasted on the beige and brown landscape of the city. Even in metropolitan areas like Jing Zi, you couldn’t escape the dull colors of the desert landscape.

Ai Xue did not lead me to the market district, blatantly giving away that it was a setup. Instead, she led me to the empty parking lot outside the school. Everything about this situation seemed like a bad idea, but it was too late to turn back now.

Padma and her cronies were waiting for us in the parking lot, sitting on top of a car. If I had to guess, I’d say it was Wei’s, his family was rich enough to give their seventeen-year-old son a brand new car for his birthday.

“Haruko, glad you could make it!” Padma’s sing-song voice rang out.

I frowned. “Is this a setup or did Ai Xue have bad information?” I called out. Padma and I had a decent length between us- about eight yards or so- so I had to shout. “Cause if you guys are just hanging out in a parking lot I want none of it. I’ve got work to do.”

“C’mon, Haru!” Jian shouted from his perch on the roof of the car. “Don’t be such a prick, come have fun with us.”

Either Jian was actually a genius at manipulating people, or he really was dumber than the rocks he bent.

“Yeah, Haruko!” Padma smiled, her voice so sweet it was degrading. “Come have fun with us.”

“Shut up, Padma. What do you want with me?”

Padma jumped off the car and walked over to me, Jian and Wei following closely. Ai Xue, on the other hand, moved backward away from me, shying away from whatever was about to happen. Probably a good idea, considering what was about to happen.

Padma stopped when she was only a few feet away from me. “Haruko, you know I can’t have you running around interrupting what I’m doing. I can’t have a sandbender messing up my teenage years.”

“And what, you want me to stand by when you commit crimes? Run around taking advantage of the poor?” I spat.

“Lighten up. It’s not like I’m messing with you specifically.” Padma retorted.

I dropped into a defensive bending stance, signifying to Padma that I was fully prepared to fight her. I was a better bender than all three of them individually, and they knew that. That’s why they were teaming up “Padma, I’m warning you.”

In what seemed like the fraction of a second, Padma lifted a chunk of the ground only a few feet from my face. I jumped backwards before it could hit me and sent the rock towards Padma’s group. I was right, she had brought me out here to start a fight.

My three opponents easily dodged the rock I sent at them and continued to send more my way. From what I knew, earthbending-only fights stood out from the other elements. They were never as close quarters as waterbending, or as flashy as firebending fights. And they tended to leave massive scars on the terrain around them- uprooted columns of dirt, chunks of rock missing from the ground. Our fight was no different, we were running out of parking lot to mess up.

I raised the ground under Jian’s feet a few inches to catch him off his balance. In return, he shifted the earth below me to likewise knock me over. I regained my balance, but didn’t see Padma sending a large chunk of asphalt at my back. I fell to the ground, my face hitting the hot ground. I could feel the dirt in my mouth- and the salty taste of my own blood. Padma had hit me hard, I couldn’t move.

Padma walked over to me, bending down in front of my injured form. She cupped my jaw in her hand, forcing me upwards. I could feel my blood trickling down my chin and onto her hand.

“You’ve looked better.” She taunted, her voice haughty. Despite her victory, she looked worse for wear herself- her hair bun had come loose, there was dirt and blood on her face, just like mine. I scowled at her, but didn’t say anything.

Padma glared at me, then shoved me back down. “C’mon boys, Ai. I’d say we taught her a lesson.”

I could hear the four of them get into Wei’s car and drive off. It took too long for them to leave.

As soon as I was certain the four of them had left, I picked myself up from the ground. My entire body ached, but I could put up with that for now. I had been bruised before, it wasn’t like it would kill me.

The sky was dark as I traveled home, and the streets were mostly empty. The few other pedestrians kept their distance from me. I was grateful for what privacy they gave me as I limped back home.

Once I got home, I entered through the back door. Aunt Liling was probably waiting for me, I didn’t want her to see me in such a mess. I stumbled through the kitchen to the small guest bathroom to examine my wounds.

I was an absolute mess- coated in dust almost head-to-toe, a tear in the sleeve of my jacket, a bleeding gash crossing my lip. I did my best to clean the wound and get some of the dirt off me, but no matter what, I still looked terrible. I sighed, then walked into the kitchen to await my aunt’s worried berating.