Return

Owlan nodded, "Good, you'll find your boat waiting for you at the docks, are you ready to leave?" he asked, Owlan stood up and waved his hand. "And smoke all you want, just don't burn any of the papers." Owlan walked up behind Nicholas and looked at him as he smoke, then came the line. "We used to be friends you know.." Owlan smiled and laughed, "I know." He said simply, "Nicholas...how you been? How did you survive the attack? I saw the village before the rebuild, it was completely destroyed..." Owlan pulled Nicholas into a hug and then stepped back and scanned his face, "You haven't aged well have you?" he laughed, "You look like hell."

Nicholas was taken aback as Owlan pulled him into a hug, then looked him over. A sad smiled was on his face. Nicholas blew some smoke out of window and laughed a bit.

"My job doesn't treat me nicely. But I'm good at it." He looked back at Owlan and wasn't sure where to start. "The village was destroyed...only a couple of us survived. I got out of there as fast as possible, got picked up by some bandits, then a lot of crazy shit happened. But what about you? I heard about that battle, where you held up so bravely. I wasn't in the Fire Nation at the time, but I couldn't believe it when I heard what happened." He took another drag on his cigarette and leaned against the wall. "Wow. I can't really believe we're standing here. It's been fifteen years, and now you're a king."

"Well, I didn't expect to be Fire Lord," said Owlan admittedly, "It was SUPPOSED to be Eldunar. He's the oldest, and was first in line. He didn't want the title though, and since I was the second oldest, the title fell to me. But yeah...I can't believe that you're here and alive. I spent years worrying about you, wondering if you really died...thinking about what would've happened if you lived. I spent my life dreaming of a moment like this where your scruffy body would walk in here and tell me it was all a dream and you lived..." Owlan smiled and hugged Nicholas again, tighter this time, "I'm glad I have my friend back." Owlan smiled and laughed, "It was getting boring around here before you showed up."

Nicholas smiled and hugged his friend back, being careful to avoid burning his clothing. "Well, good thing I decided to come back then. I was feeling a bit homesick. I saw my village...it was actually sad to see it rebuilt. The memories of everyone who lived there are completely gone now." He bit down on his cigarette and dug through his pockets until he pulled out a small, wrickled photograph. It was old, and not very good, but it was the only thing he had. He handed it to Owlan. It was a photograph of Owlan, Nicholas, and Nicholas's father. It had been taken a long time ago, when Nicholas was seven and Owlan was nine.

"I found it awhile ago. Brings back memories, huh?"

"Well you have to understand, it looks bad on the Fire Nation to just have a burnt village laying there. We needed to up the revenue a bit, so while Claudia was doing the books she suggested we do that by rebuilding the town. It's helped believe it or not. And now that we've taken the Light and Dark Nations under are wings as states, it's boosted even more." Owlan took the photograph and smoothed it out a little more than scanned it. It was black and white, and seemed to have been rained on at one point because a few water marks were visible. "It does...god, I was so small back then, my hair was still long though..." Owlan smiled up at Nicholas, "It's sure been a long time since then. We need to take another picture sometime soon, once you return from the Light State, how does that sound? I can have something arranged, as long as you don't come in looking like a raggedy, stray doll."

Nicholas shrugged and pulled his coat tighter around his body. "Fine by me, but I don't promise anything. I'm going on a raid after all." He walked toward the door and pulled it open, paused in the doorway, and looked back. "There's a ship waiting for me by the dock? Alright. Then it's off to the raid. By the way, if I die during this, it's your fault." He winked at Owlan and walked out of the door, letting the door swing closed behind him. Nicholas didn't have any belongings and was as ready as he'd ever be to lead the prisoners turned soldiers, so might as well get it done with as quick as possible. Putting out his cigarette, he tossed it in one of the quaint trash cans and followed his steps back out of the palace. He strode out of the palace with a new sense of pride and he put his hair up and felt the gun in his pocket. Owlan said this paid well. It was well better, or I'll waste all this ammo for nothing.

Owlan laughed, and smiled, "Don't ever change Nicholas," he said as he left. Owlan turned around and sat back down to his work with a smile. "Don't die either or I'll kill you," he whispered to himself. Owlan sat back down, and burried his nose in his Codex and worked on his notes again. He was slightly frusterated as he realized he would need to start from the beggining to get back his train of thought. But he knew it was worth it, he got his Fire Lord duties for the day out of the way and he got his best friend back. Admittedly things were lonely without Nicholas. Eldunar lived on Ember Island and they rarely spoke face to face, and when they did it was briefly through the mirror. Erolass refused to come around the palace whenever he came back into the Capitol to do some sketchings or meet a client, claiming that it ruined his creative eye. Naina was always in and out of the palace because she was embassador, her and Owlan were close, but they didn't have the time to talk lately. Airo and Owlan were never close, and Airo was a soldier, meaning he was always out over seas on duty in the Light State. Claudia had dissapeared 7 years ago to join the assassins--which he recently discovered--and they had written only a total of 4 letters throughout the years and had met in person only once recently. His great-great-great-great uncle Raiden never spoke to ANYONE since the death of his family at the hands of mercenaries. Owlan let out a sigh and got back to work. Nicholas was back, and Owlan was happy, and that's all he cared about right now.