[Sub-Plot Topic] The Wolf Queen the Meets the Street King (Wolfie and Sara)

Ziio slumped against the wall, her wolves laying down, napping surrounding her, protecting her. She was in the gardens, leaning against the castle wall with her knees tucked in to her chest. She didn't like it. The place was so big. So open. So warm. No snow or ice. It was depressing. In the silence Ziio thought about her life. Thought about her time here, all two hours of it. An hour ago she was a huntress, hunting animals, skinning them and selling their pelts and meat for a living. She had everything she needed and wanted.

Now she was the Avatar--though Ziio supposed she had always been the Avatar. She wasn't entirely sure how these things worked but she knew the Avatar was a constant cycle of reincarnation, which means she was born to be the Avatar, she just didn't know about it until today. Oh well; I guess a quiet life was not to be hers after all. Now she had watch people and care for them and save them and all that junk. That was the part Ziio didn't like; all those people.

Ziio had lived alone for five years. She had not spoken once in that time, not since her grandmother and parents died. Not since she drove that spear into the neck of the Polar Bear Dog. She didn't need people, she had her wolves. Did she even have a voice? Fuck she was going to have to talk to people. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Ziio's throat tightened and Ziio was sure if she wasn't already she'd be speechless right now. Ziio hung her head, why did it have to be her?

Could she renegotiate with the Spirits and the Gods or whoever the hell dealt with the reincarnation of the Avatar and get herself out of this? Was that possible? No probably not...she'd have to die, and Ziio was not keen on suicide. She wanted her old life back, not a new one. The Avatar who killed herself. Who let the world down when they needed her most. Then again, remembering the Legend of Aang, and the tales of Avatar Roku's final days it wouldn't be the first time.

Of course there was Kuruk who let his wife down. Avatar Lee actually got himself killed in the Avatar state and left the world without an Avatar for 200 years, that was nice of him. All those guys were heroes! So why not? Why couldn't Ziio kill herself?? Because she hadn't done anything to be called hero yet. Lee died protecting his people and his family after saving the world twice. Aang made up for his actions by saving the world from Ozai AND rebuilding it after. Roku did much good in his life, and his existence is what kept Sozin from starting the war earlier.

It was Sozin who killed Roku; Roku trusted his friend...Sozin was just a lying cheater. A rat bastard who wanted power. Roku couldn't have known. Besides, he died saving an island from a volcano. So, that was pretty heroic. She guessed. Ziio shrugged and stood up, walking over to the fountain. Amaterasu and Tei, the two alphas, joined her as she stared at her reflection in the pool, sitting on the bench using her knees, resting her arms on the lip of the fountain's bowl. She didn't even see the scrawny little street rat walk out from the palace.

Ziio was too wrapped up in her thoughts. That hadn't happened in years; luckily her wolves noticed, and they got up, growing, barking and protecting Ziio from the "attacker", Ziio drew her knife and growled low at the boy. Who was he? A bad guy? Should she kill him??

Spoiler:

Ulrich didn't like it. In fact, he hated it. There was too much space, and not enough. There were too many people, yet fewer than he was used to. A street rat didn't belong in a castle. Of course, it didn't help that he still didn't have a shirt on, thanks to his unforeseen kidnapping. On the flight there, he happened to spy the gardens. After the excruciatingly long tour of the castle, Ulrich was given some time to get used to the place and explore the castle. Naturally, the first place he went was the gardens. He needed fresh air.

Ulrich found himself wandering between the rows of shrubs and flowers. It seemed to be set up as a maze, but it was easy for him to figure out. Twilight was cast across everything, the one thing that felt right. He stopped at a fountain in the center of the garden. The water seemed to glow orange with the fading light. Ulrich closed his eyes and smiled, feeling the warmth of the disappearing sun. He subconsciously started singing a lullaby. It was one he had learned from his childhood, being raised in an orphanage. The lady who took care of him did everything she could to keep him and the other orphans happy. Her sweet voice echoed in Ulrich's mind as his words matched hers. She had been the closest thing he'd had to a mother. And because of his choice, made almost ten years before, he would never see her again. For all he knew, the place was closed. It had been failing when he was there. It wouldn't surprise him if the orphanage he'd called home no longer existed.

But he'd left it behind. He could take care of himself. The only problem was the he wasn't planning on it. He and Chaio, his twin brother, were going to take care of each other. But that night had been the last he'd seen him. The memory of his death still burned fresh in Ulrich's mind, and though the song he sang was meant to be happy, it only filled him with sadness. He wiped a tear away. There was no point in holding onto the past. He had to keep on pushing forward. He opened his eyes as twilight turned to dusk, and Ulrich realized that he had to go inside soon, or it would be too dark to see, and frankly, he didn't want to have to light his way through a bunch of plants. Starting a fire would not make a good first impression.

Ulrich saw the wolves first. He gasped, taking a step back. The memory flashed in his mind. The beast in the woods. The animal that had killed his brother. Of course he'd been traumatized. He was only twelve at the time. They turned and started growling and barking at him. Ulrich's heart rate increased as well as his breathing. He knew in his heart that it wasn't the same creature. Though the night his brother died was so dark Ulrich could barely see what happened, he knew the figure of the creature that killed Chaio, and it wasn't the same as these wolves. They were slimmer and shorter. Whatever animal had killed his brother was a beast. Yet there were too many similarities. The wolves scared him. Ulrich wanted to turn and run. But something about they way the wolves were acting wasn't normal.

Then he realized it. They weren't attacking. They were protecting something. Ulrich hadn't seen her at first as the evening grew darker, but he could now make out the image of a girl curled in a ball leaning against the castle wall. That's what the wolves were protecting. Ulrich tried to use that knowledge to calm himself down, but he was too scared to even move. He could only stare at the wolves and the girl.

Ziio glared at the boy, growling just like her wolves.  All nine of them had their tail hairs bristled, their maws pull back in snarls, fangs bared, drool and spittle shooting from their mouths.  Eyes were wide, ears tilted back, flat against their furry heads.  They dug their claws into the ground and readied their muscles for the final pounce, one jump for Ulrich.  One towards his throat, the rest at his limbs, maybe a few for his chest.  It wouldn't make much to rip through the the flesh of this man-cub.  This boy-child.  The hairless-one.

Ziio felt the thoughts of her wolves echo through her head.  They sensed a power in him, they wanted to kill him.  He posed a potential threat to Ziio; even if he hand't done anything to her, his ability to is what made him dangerous.  So long as he existed the possibility of him hurting Ziio existed and that was reason enough for her wolves to want him dead.  "Can we, Mistress, please?" asked Tei, the alpha male, his voice deep and gruff.  Ziio raised her dagger, but did not respond yet.  She thought for a few seconds, then replied, "I need a second...allow me to assess the situation first.  He doesn't seem unfriendly."

"Quickly, Mistress, while he stands there like a lamb for slaughter!" came the low, rumbling voice of Cho.  His voice was always like the sound of thunder, or waves crashing against the icebergs of the shore of the North Pole.  Ziio stood up, and put away her knife.  "Stand down, pack," said Ziio firmly, "Do not harm him, or face me."  Tei growled in discomfort, but a look from Amaterasu, his mate, calmed his worries about their Mistress's safety, though the old wolf kept himself ready to pounce at any time.

"We shall listen to our Mistress; do not attack him," said Amaterasu for her mate, who stood there silently, eyeing the Ulrich boy with distrust and a blood lust so heavy one could use it to build muscle simply by lifting it a few times a day.  Ziio stepped forward, her hand held out.  Seconds before she reached Ulrich though she felt it.  Another presence in her head.  Unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time.  There were not other creatures in this garden, and Ziio knew the minds of her wolves.

It was the boy!  He was breaking into her mind!  Insolence!  How dare he invade her inner sanctum, the minds of her and her wolves!  Baring her teeth in a snarl, Ziio growled, yelped and threw herself onto Ulrich, pulling her dagger midair.  When the two landed, Ziio was kneeling with her knee deep into the middle of Ulrich's gut, forcing the air from his diaphragm, while she used her other leg to stabilize herself.  One hand had Ulrich's collar tight in its grasp, while the other held her boot knife, the one she used to skin creatures, tight against Ulrich's throat.

Ziio did not speak when she yelled at him, but she forced her thoughts and feelings of anger, rage, betrayal, and hurt through the connection between their minds.  She drive them all into Ulrich's mind like a needle, jamming hard into his consciousness.  She wanted it to hurt.  Serves him right for betraying her trust.  "How did you get into my mind?!  Answer me or I will kill you, along with my Wolf Pack!  How dare you enter my mind uninvited!"

How did she even do that? It seemed that all the girl had to do was look at the wolves and they calmed down. They still eyed him like he was their next meal, but they weren't as ferocious as before. The girl stood up and walked towards him. Ulrich noticed that she wore water tribe clothing, confirming his suspicion that the wolves were from one of the poles. And they were definitely loyal to her. Was she their master? No, if she was, there would have been verbal communication, and she would probably be carrying some kind of whip or something to keep them in line. They were closer than that. There was a visible bond between the girl and the wolves. But what exactly was it?

Ulrich would have thought about it longer, but as the girl approached, he was suddenly struck with the erie feeling that somebody was listening to his thoughts, like somebody was inside of his mind. W-who's there? He thought, looking around. The only other person in the garden was the girl. Could it have been her? But how? What gave her the ability to get into his head and hear what he was thinking? Ulrich didn't have time to dwell on it. His suspicions were confirmed when she tackled him to the ground, a knife to his throat. Ulrich found it difficult to breathe with her knee on his diaphragm. He had to admit, he was grateful that Anaria had made him put on a shirt before their ship landed, or this could have been an extremely awkward situation.

Ulrich gasped for air, but found none. The girl was far from heavy, but she was leaning into him, pushing her knee downward. His eyes widened in shock as a voice he assumed to be hers rang angrily in his mind. She was asking how he got into her mind. She seemed familiar with mental communication. But how did she not know? Hadn't she created the telepathic connection. It was a good thing that thinking didn't require breathing. I should be asking you the same question. Ulrich grunted, desperately trying to breathe. You're the one who got into my head. Not the other way around. I swear, I didn't do anything! Also, if it makes you feel any better, your wolves terrify me...

Ulrich prayed that she wouldn't kill him. He figured she wouldn't know who he was, since he had only just found out himself. And she wouldn't be threatening him if she knew he was important. So she was unfamiliar with his identity. That was perfectly fine with him. That meant she didn't know that he was a light bender. Ulrich closed his eyes and focused light right on his nose, a bright flash. Perhaps it would get her to loosen her grip in distraction, from which point Ulrich could escape the hold and possibly turn the tables against her. Though, with the wolves, Ulrich decided that his best option was to avoid be attacked. Fighting back would mean certain death.

Ziio snarled. "I was here first. You are in my head!" Then the boy tried to fight back. Big mistake. Ziio was distracted by the flash of light hanging in front of his face. She felt Ulrich wriggle out from underneath her like a newt slipping from its predator's claws. Growling Ziio pulled out her whale bone snow goggles and strapped them on her face. Sure they were used to prevent snow blindness in the tundra during the six months of eternal daylight, but just in case he used a bright flash trick again, Ziio was prepared.

Ziio stopped asking questions. Without a non-verbal word, her wolves were at her side, growling, preparing to circle and surround Ulrich on all sides. Tei barked repeatedly, trying to unnerve his opponent. Two other wolves, probably Ko and Rei howled and bayed like madwolves at a non-existent moon, trying to further destabilize Ulrich. The sight of them seemed to scare him earlier. Time to really give him something to be afraid of. Ziio formed an ice spear, having left hers in her room in the Rotunda, and held it a lot to one side, ready to go.

Then Ziio smirked, knowing what to try. It was something she discovered by accidental shortly after arriving here a few days back. Holding her hand up, Ziio reached deep within her. It was difficult; something she wasn't used to doing, but something she felt comfortable doing nonetheless. Like she had done it thousands of times before, in a thousand other lifetimes. Ziio laughed in her own head. Of course she did. She was the Avatar after all.

Ziio reached a bit deeper. Deeper. Deeper. There we go. The ancient skill unlocked a tad bit as she grasped the chi deep within her. Then, as she raised her free hand, a chunk of rock lifted slowly from the cobbled ground of the garden. The movement was slow and shaky, and not well practiced, but it was still a move. It was more of a show than it was a real technique, and Ziio knew if she had to come down to using this rock it wouldn't do much. But it was flashy. Maybe that would get him to back down. Hopefully.

"You do not know who you've messed with. Do you cede?" Ziio lifted her lips into a silent snarl. She acted every much the wolf; like the wolves she commanded, ate with, hunted with, lived among for over a decade. Perhaps it was learned behaviour or a subconscious act. Ziio wasn't sure. She didn't care. As far as she was concerned these wolves were her family. She would act like them if she pleased. No one would stop her.

Not the wolves again... thought Ulrich. They were clearly protecting the girl. He didn't want to fight her. He may not have been smart, but he was clever, and he knew that the girl, if she were in the same location as him, was one of his allies. Not an enemy, but clearly not a friend either. Not yet, anyway. Ulrich scrambled to his feet. She was wearing goggles now. Light wouldn't work as a distraction. He could try to create light shields as a defense, but he was relatively untrained. He didn't know how strong a shield would be, if it were strong at all. He had formed weapons out of light before, but they were small and simple. A shield was much larger and required more power, power he didn't know if he had access to or not.

Ulrich realized that he was defeated when the girl began to earth bend. He wouldn't stand a chance if he weren't fighting back. He raised his hands to the sky and said aloud. "I surrender, just please...call off the wolves..." Upon closer examination, the girl seemed a little wolfish herself. Perhaps it was due to what seemed to be an almost family connection between them. Or maybe she had fused with some kind of wolf spirit at some point in her life. Either way, she was intimidating, and Ulrich knew better than to make her an angrier than she already was.

Ulrich lowered his hands after a few moments and sat down. He reached into his pocket and fished out two apples. They were from home, apples he had stolen without Anaria knowing before they boarded the airship out of the Light Kingdom. He was an expert at his trade, after all. He knew how to avoid getting caught. He had taken a third apple at the time, but had given it away to a young boy, discretely dropping it into the hole filled bag as he walked by. That medicine the boy was holding must have been important. Ulrich figured that whoever needed the care wouldn't mind a bite to eat as well. He held the two apples in his hands, then tossed one toward the girl. "Why don't you sit down and eat? I've heard that people act irrationally when they're hungry, and apples always seem to cheer me up." Ulrich bit into the second apple, then smiled warmly at the girl, despite the fact that he was genuinely terrified of her.

The boy backed down.  Smart.  Very smart.  She called off her wolves and commanded they go off and watch the gardens for other intruders.  But to keep close in case she needed them.  Many were not too happy that their mistress was being left alone with an untrustworthy stranger, but her commands were absolute.  It was best not to argue with the Wolf Queen.  With the wolves gone, Ulrich seemed to relax a bit.  "What the hell is an apple?" asked Ziio with a partial scowl, pushing the words through her mind into Ulrich's, "It looks poisonous."

Ziio lived up in the frigid north, in a cave in the tundra.  She ate meat, and snow, and snow was the meal of a bad hunter, so it was only meat.  Cooked, uncooked.  Often uncooked.  Such was the ways of a northern hunter.  The old ways as some called it.  Meat would be cached in the ice all year round.  It would not melt in the frigid wastes.  So you would dig a whole, bury you meat, and it would never go bad.  Ziio had never seen food that she didn't kill or catch herself.

Since apples don't grow in ice and snow, she had never seen one.  Ziio also highly doubted that she could fish them out of the ice over the frozen ocean.  A nice chinook salmon though.  Give her a wriggling salmon to grill any day.  Or the meat of a Tundra Ox.  Even the meat of a Seal-Turtles, or the Walrus-Whales.  They were delicious.  If you could find a fire big enough--or a cache large enough and ice thick enough.

Ziio eyed the apple with narrow eyes.  Finally, she grabbed her skinning knife, stabbed it into the apple so deep that if she stabbed it in any further she would've speared Ulrich's hand.  With the apple on her knife, Ziio examined it, sniffed it, licked it, and then took a small nibble.  Juices dripped everywhere, making a mess and dripping from her chin.  It was too sweet...Ziio was tempted to spit it out but, it was good at the same time.  She chewed a bit longer, then swallowed.  "Very well," she responded with her thoughts, "Passable."

Ulrich chuckled. "You don't get out much, do you?" he said, watching the girl cautiously take a bite of the fruit he had grown to love since childhood. "It's fruit, you know, food that grows on trees? Oh, speaking of which, watch out for the seeds, and don't eat the core, either." Ulrich took another large bite of his apple, wiping his hand across his mouth to prevent the sweet juices from dripping down his bare chest. Just the thought of it made him smile. The guards had tried to get him to put on a shirt, but all they had was stuff way too thick and heavy for Ulrich's taste. Besides, if he was supposed to live here, the residents might as well get used to it.

Finishing the apple, Ulrich tossed the core into the shrubbery. Maybe an apple tree would grow here, then he could have fresh apples whenever he wanted. He shook his head. His mind was straying from the current situation. He was relieved that the wolves had at least stopped looking so threatening, at least for the time being, but he knew that could change at any moment. At the moment, though, he and the girl were at least somewhat alone, with the wolves roaming the gardens, keeping watch.

Ulrich shifted, leaning against the marble siding of a fountain. He patted the ground next to him, gesturing for the girl to sit as well. "Come on, I don't bite. Well, hard, anyway," Ulrich said with another chuckle. His tone shifted more toward seriousness. "Look, it seems like we really got off on the wrong step. Let's start over." He extended his hand towards hers. "Hi! My name's Ulrich Nara. And you are?"

"I would rather not," shrugged Ziio.  She did not fear Ulrich, but she still did not know him well enough to trust him.  Suddenly, Ziio was thrust aside as she leapt out of the way of a sudden crack.  There was a small bang, some smoke, and all of a sudden the apple seeds and core that Ulrich had thrown into the dark soil of the gardens immediately burst into a massive apple tree.

Ziio stood there, mouth agape as she saw what stood before her.  She had heard legends about the soil in this place.  How it was so fertile that anything could grow regardless of time and climate needed.  She was surprised to see it was true.  She looked over at Ulrich and saw that he was just as surprised as she was.  They had never seen something so...magical?  Was that the word?  No...no there was no such thing as magic.  This was spiritual energy.  This was spiritual.

The kids were too young to know about Ullondor and the Crusades fought there.  Too young to remember the attack by the wizards and their dragons.  The damage done by them.  How devastating the Crusades had truly been on the populations of the nations.  Three million dead.  Civilians, soldiers alike.  Nothing compared to the loss the Ullondorian's suffered.  An entire continent, sunk beneath the sea.  A whole civilization wiped out in the blink of an eye.

Ziio shuddered.  Visions of it came back to her.  She didn't understand why it bugged her, but it did.  Why did she have these memories?  What were they?  Why did she understand them if she had never seen them?  Ziio was unsure, but she kept the memories secret and looked back at Ulrich.  "Why are you here, Ulrich Nara?" asked Ziio, getting to the point.