Asura

Fire Emblem: The Slumbering Goddess

Adelaide von Hresvelg

_{Interacting with: @McMolly | Location: Garreg Mach Monastery - Courtyard}

---

With such heavy expectations ahead of her, Adelaide took a moment to relish the hug she shared with her dear cousin. It was not as though she would have many such moments in the coming months, after all. When they parted, she couldn't help but flash a smile at the way Widolaic curtsied to her as if they were still in the halls of the Imperial Palace. How many more curtsies would she be subjected to before even the first day was over? More than she wanted, perhaps, but with any luck, just as many as were expected. Widolaic was family, and she could be given a pass for their familiarity, but not all those who would wear Adrestia's colors were so lucky. There was a line to be had, as a ruler, between how much one was loved and how much one was respected. Adelaide had every intention of being both in the heart of her subjects, but respect was the far quicker—and perhaps far more important—feeling to cultivate.

"We begin by making peace with the fact there is precious little time for all we wish to accomplish," That much was as true for the scant year spent at Garreg Mach as it was for life itself, "But acknowledging that we need to accomplish as much as possible all the same."

Her cousin was not wrong. The heiress certainly had come up with a plan of action on how she would approach the coming months. What great leader would not? But another terrible truth on the matter of planning was that no matter how diligently one planned, the future always had a way of shifting inscrutably this way and that. No plan survived first contact with the enemy.

Fortunately, her enemies were a matter of the future. In the present, her plans focused more on those who were all but assured to be called allies.

"I will need to make the rounds once we have been given some free time. Meet with those who will swear me fealty one day. I have it on good authority that this year's batch of Eagles has no shortage of future ministers, and the one who is not destined to lead a ministry is destined for my hand."

Adelaide had not put much consideration toward her own marriage. Not even when Engel was still among the living. It had not skipped her mind entirely, of course. Indeed, the diligence she had known toward her studies as a girl was in honor of the man who would one day call her his bride. But by the time she had a notion of what exactly a husband was, the matter had already been set in stone for her. There was no greater value, in her mind, in ruminating over it.

But then Engel von Hresvelg joined his brothers and sisters, and Adelaide was without an intended for the first time since she could toddle. There was talk here or there about who would step up and seize her hand, especially once the Emperor had officially adopted her as his lawful heir. The amount of scheming and hand-wringing behind the scenes must have been a terrible thing to behold. Something more the purview of her dear cousin than herself. But Widolaic had been... indisposed at the time, and a predictable candidate was put forward not so long before her seventeenth birthday.

"I do not suppose you are familiar with Johann von Aegir? I must confess, I know precious little of the man who would someday sire my children. I suppose that might explain his convenient presence at the monastery this year: his father has surely insisted he win my favor before the year is concluded."

Fire Emblem: The Slumbering Goddess

Adelaide von Hresvelg

_{Interacting with: @McMolly | Location: Garreg Mach Monastery - Courtyard}

---

What an exceedingly unpleasant man.

Such thoughts were not ones that Adelaide considered herself proud to have: after all, Tomai Malathice would be perhaps the singular most important member of Garreg Mach's faculty regarding her education for her stay with the Church. It was through him she would receive the dispatches from the powers that be, and the directives to hand down to her fellow students, who would inevitably look to her for leadership above all else. While the pleasantries of the court were not intrinsically linked to one's competency—and truly, his competency was all she was particularly concerned with—his dismissive nature was certain to eat away at the young heiress' patience sooner or later. Compared to the trials she had already faced, however, perhaps it was a small blessing that her only complaint thus far was the personability of a single educator.

The good professor's dismissal was sure to bring attention to her from those in attendance, and when she rose from her seat, the Empress-to-be offered a short bow of introduction toward her fellow Eagles before excusing herself to the courtyard, following what seemed to be the intended flow of things. Most of them would certainly find her on their own time, to greet their esteemed leader, and perhaps to curry some favor. Of that much, she could confidently say she looked forward. It was always a delight to see the ways different people would approach her, especially in the years after her declaration of inheritance. But it was not her eagerness for introductions to come that directed her stride as the crisp spring air welcomed her outside. It was a desire to reacquaint herself with an individual whom she already knew well enough.

Or, better said, knew as well as one could know.

"It has been far too long since we last met, dear cousin," Adelaide offered a genuine smile as she approached her older kinswoman, although they were not so far apart in age to engender too much formality, "I had heard you would be attending this year—a most fortuitous happening, and one I hope will set a trend for us. Especially given recent... setbacks."

The Vestra family were a secretive sort of folk. Their duties ensured that much. But even through the veils set up by that most shadowy underhand of the Adrestian Empire, enough information slipped through to a humble heiress. There was a time when she once had two young scions of the Vestra to call cousins. And now, for the machinations of her lordly uncle, she had but a single one. Her opinions on the matter were... mixed. Vex her though the nebulous matter did, there was one thing she was not unsure about.

"I am glad those setbacks have, all the same, seen you to me safely, Viddle."

Many students were beginning to mill about the courtyard, and yet despite their prying eyes, the future ruler of all Adrestia opened her arms all the same and beckoned inwards with delicate fingers such that she could share the smallest moment of warmth with her blood before others came to join their conversation.

Fire Emblem: The Slumbering Goddess

Adelaide von Hresvelg

_{"Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor Fódlan three masters."}

Name

Adelaide von Hresvelg

Age

Seventeen _{Born the 14th of Guardian Moon}

Country of Origin

The Adrestrian Empire

Social Standing

Crown Princess

Crest

Crest of Seiros
_{Adelaide's crest bestows her allies with supernatural prowess and vigor, significantly increasing their combative abilities, while weighing down those who oppose her in equal measure.}

Starting Class

Lord

Weapon of Choice

Sword

Strengths

Swords, Authority

Weaknesses

Bow, Flying

Personality

Adelaide is, first and foremost, a very bold young woman. She fearlessly embraces challenge and risk with an unmatched confidence in her abilities. This self-assurance follows her into all endeavors she commits herself to, a self-assurance that roots itself deeply in her faith in the Goddess. Victory, to her, is a simple matter of faith and perseverance. If she is to fail at a task, then she needs to merely learn from her mistakes and correct course. The confidence she radiates lends her a certain magnetism, and that magnetism is compounded by the wit inherent to her speech. To say she is outgoing would be an understatement: Adelaide makes it a point to leave those with whom she speaks feeling better about themselves than when she first found them. At least, those she wishes to endear with her charms. Woe be to those who would earn her ire, for the venom on her tongue is sure to be as potent as her honeyed words.

The concept of excellence is something inherently important to Adelaide. She strives for excellence in all that she does and expects the same of those around her. Her belief is that conflict—though so often seen as negative and brutish—is the crucible through which greatness is forged. As such, she is a great fan of competition and games, understanding that only by facing challenges levied by one's peers can a person grow to be the greater of those very peers. Fittingly, her work ethic borders on the overzealous, and it is a rare sight to see her indulging in things that do not bring her even a half-step closer to the grandiose destiny she has formed the core of her life around.

History

The firstborn daughter of a lesser branch of the esteemed Hresvelg family, for much of young Adelaide's life, she found herself caught in a strange cross-section of Imperial life. Her lineage separated from the main branch nearly one hundred years ago, when the eldest son of Emperor Ludolf II, Adelbert von Hresvelg, was passed over for the crown in favor of his younger brother, the future Emperor Henrik I. Both brothers had been blessed by the Goddess to bear the Crest of Seiros, as all Emperors before them had done. Despite his ambition and valor, Adelbert's crest proved weaker than that of his younger brother and was thus rewarded not with dominion over all of Adrestia, but instead with a suitable bride of the Bergliez family, with which to carry on his lineage. It was often said that Adelbert seethed over the loss of his birthright, and his dark moods were known to haunt the halls of the Imperial Palace throughout the reign of his brother. However heavy the weight of the loss was, however, it did not stop Adelbert from being fruitful. He fathered seven children with his wife over the years, of whom the youngest of which happened to be Adelaide's mother, Matilda.

Perhaps to punish him for his hubris, of the seven children that bore his name, only Matilda had inherited the Crest which marked the Hresvelg family as the rightful rulers of Adrestia. And like Adelbert, her Crest was marred by its potency, a minor blessing unfit to contest the main line. It was enough to secure her continued use of the Imperial name, however, and in the waning years of her uncle's reign, Matilda married a young officer of the Imperial Guard to whom she had grown close. Adelaide, named for her grandfather, was born shortly thereafter. An auspicious birth indeed, as would later be discovered when the Bishopric of Enbarr put their Hanneman machine to use on the newborn girl. For the first time since their divergence from the main Imperial line, her family had produced a full-blooded Crest of Seiros.

Such news might have been even more welcome in the earlier days of their existence. However, the reigning Emperor, Anselm VI, had few issues of succession. His own eldest had been blessed much the same as Adelaide, and the succession was unlikely to be challenged. Her grandfather, himself nearing the end of his life, used what favor he still held in the Imperial court to arrange a match between the prize of his lineage and the main line: when she came of age, Adelaide would be wed to Engel von Hresvelg, her second cousin and the future Emperor of Adrestia, such that the future of both branches would be all the brighter for their union.

Such a legacy loomed heavy over Adelaide as she grew. It was all but assured that she would one day sit at the head of the mightiest Empire Fódlan had ever known, albeit at the side of her husband as a consort to the throne. It would not do for a consort of the Hresvelg line to be anything less than perfect, however, and so from her earliest days, Adelaide was drilled in all matters of noble endeavor. She trained in the yard with her knightly father in the mornings, practicing sword and lance and horse, reading history and philosophy in the afternoons, and learning courtesy and kindness at her mother's knee in the nights. It was a difficult regime, one that some might have been forgiven for coming to despise. Not Adelaide, however. Even as a child, she met the challenges with eagerness and vigor. One day, she would wed an Emperor, after all. It would not do for her to be a simple page in her husband's history book. She would be just as exalted as he.

But the fates had something else in mind for dear Adelaide. She was just a girl of six when whispers of plague in the far-flung provinces of the Empire began circulating the court. By the time she was ten, it had managed to reach as far as the capital, and once it made its way into the palace itself, not even the Emperor's children were spared. One, then two, then three and four. The disease had taken four of the seven scions of Emperor Anselm, and not long after the youngest took their final breath, Adelaide's intended could handle no more grief and took his own life before their match could be officiated. She had been a girl of thirteen at the time, and with much of her future seeming to fade away with the dying embers of the Empire she had sought to one day preside over, for the first time in her life, the incessant drive to do more seemed to fade.

It was shortly after falling into such doldrums that her fate took another turn. She had been fortunate enough to avoid the plague until that point, in part due to the diligence of her father and his kinsmen. But shortly after her fourteenth birthday, despair turned to delirium, as fever and chills brought her low and confined her to a sickbed that had become the deathbed for so many of her relatives. It was in the throes of this terrible suffering that perhaps the single most pivotal moment of her life took place. It was during this time that she was graced by the warmth of the Goddess.

Though she could scarcely awaken long enough to see the face of her mother, the face of Sothis was as clear to her as the summer skies. The Goddess spoke to her and showed her things she could only have imagined in her wildest dreams: a proud and unified Fódlan. A prosperous continent, free from the nightmares of plague and infighting and treachery all. A Fódlan that thrived under the banner of Adrestia, as it had been in the time of Lycaon I. And it was no great Emperor of the future that brought such a glorious thing to life, but instead Adelaide herself. It was not some sweet dream, but a vision of what was to come. A destiny that needed to be fulfilled. The plague which had ravaged her would not take her life, Adelaide understood. It could not. For the Goddess had chosen her to bring Adrestia—and by extension, all of Fódlan—into a new golden age.

Some days after such reverent visions, Adelaide's fever suddenly broke, and she rose from her bed to the desperate relief of her mother and father. A relief that swiftly turned to exasperation, as the young girl immediately requested she be brought to her remaining tutors. A grand destiny awaited her, after all, and she only had so many years to prepare for it to unfold.

Any doubts about the validity of her visions were put to rest in the days following her recovery. When it was made clear that she suffered no lasting consequences from her foray with death itself, an order from the Imperial throne itself came down. With the death of Crown Prince Engel, his betrothed would assume his place as heir to the Empire, officially adopted into the mainline as the true born daughter of the House Hresvelg. Since she was old enough to want anything at all, she had thrown herself selflessly into the pursuit of greatness in the name of the throne. A throne that would be hers by the end of the decade. The years that followed were much as the ones that preceded them, with Adelaide throwing herself into her studies with a renewed zeal that few could hope to match.

In acknowledgment of her inheritance, an invitation to the officer's academy at Garreg Mach arrived in the wake of Adelaide's seventeenth birthday. A focal point for many of the future leaders of Fódlan, Adelaide was eager to accept. Where better could a woman who meant to rule the continent spend the waning years of her youth? There, she could learn from the very best minds the Church could offer, win the favor of her future vassals, and perhaps most importantly, determine who would be the greatest threats to the divinely ordained fate that lay ahead of her. In the name of the Goddess, she embarked just in time for the beginning of the school year.

Trivia

• Standing at just over five feet eight inches tall, Adelaide is rather tall for a woman of Adrestian stock. Her height has a tendency to be exaggerated by the regal bearing with which she carries herself.
• Adelaide's favorite food is Hasenpfeffer, or Pickled Rabbit Stew, to the less cultured members of Fódlan's nobility. She has a soft spot for most all foods steeped in vinegar, however.
• Despite being trained in most weapons, Adelaide has always favored the sword for its heroic connotations, believing it to be the weapon of Heroes and Kings alike. She is intensely interested in swordplay, and has been schooled in multiple Adrestian fencing styles.
• Contrary to her hawkish tendencies, Adelaide is a lover of the arts. Song and dance, in particular, have always been passions of hers, and she believes that any noble worth their title should be well-versed in classic ballroom dancing.

Fire Emblem: The Slumbering Goddess

Adelaide von Hresvelg

_{"Heaven cannot brook two suns, nor Fódlan three masters."}

Name

Adelaide von Hresvelg

Age

Seventeen _{Born the 14th of Guardian Moon}

Country of Origin

The Adrestrian Empire

Social Standing

Crown Princess

Crest

Crest of Seiros
_{Adelaide's crest bestows her allies with supernatural prowess and vigor, significantly increasing their combative abilities, while weighing down those who oppose her in equal measure.}

Starting Class

Lord

Weapon of Choice

Sword

Strengths

Swords, Authority

Weaknesses

Bow, Flying

Personality

Adelaide is, first and foremost, a very bold young woman. She fearlessly embraces challenge and risk with an unmatched confidence in her abilities. This self-assurance follows her into all endeavors she commits herself to, a self-assurance that roots itself deeply in her faith in the Goddess. Victory, to her, is a simple matter of faith and perseverance. If she is to fail at a task, then she needs to merely learn from her mistakes and correct course. The confidence she radiates lends her a certain magnetism, and that magnetism is compounded by the wit inherent to her speech. To say she is outgoing would be an understatement: Adelaide makes it a point to leave those with whom she speaks feeling better about themselves than when she first found them. At least, those she wishes to endear with her charms. Woe be to those who would earn her ire, for the venom on her tongue is sure to be as potent as her honeyed words.

The concept of excellence is something inherently important to Adelaide. She strives for excellence in all that she does and expects the same of those around her. Her belief is that conflict—though so often seen as negative and brutish—is the crucible through which greatness is forged. As such, she is a great fan of competition and games, understanding that only by facing challenges levied by one's peers can a person grow to be the greater of those very peers. Fittingly, her work ethic borders on the overzealous, and it is a rare sight to see her indulging in things that do not bring her even a half-step closer to the grandiose destiny she has formed the core of her life around.

History

The firstborn daughter of a lesser branch of the esteemed Hresvelg family, for much of young Adelaide's life, she found herself caught in a strange cross-section of Imperial life. Her lineage separated from the main branch nearly one hundred years ago, when the eldest son of Emperor Ludolf II, Adelbert von Hresvelg, was passed over for the crown in favor of his younger brother, the future Emperor Henrik I. Both brothers had been blessed by the Goddess to bear the Crest of Seiros, as all Emperors before them had done. Despite his ambition and valor, Adelbert's crest proved weaker than that of his younger brother and was thus rewarded not with dominion over all of Adrestia, but instead with a suitable bride of the Bergliez family, with which to carry on his lineage. It was often said that Adelbert seethed over the loss of his birthright, and his dark moods were known to haunt the halls of the Imperial Palace throughout the reign of his brother. However heavy the weight of the loss was, however, it did not stop Adelbert from being fruitful. He fathered seven children with his wife over the years, of whom the youngest of which happened to be Adelaide's mother, Matilda.

Perhaps to punish him for his hubris, of the seven children that bore his name, only Matilda had inherited the Crest which marked the Hresvelg family as the rightful rulers of Adrestia. And like Adelbert, her Crest was marred by its potency, a minor blessing unfit to contest the main line. It was enough to secure her continued use of the Imperial name, however, and in the waning years of her uncle's reign, Matilda married a young officer of the Imperial Guard to whom she had grown close. Adelaide, named for her grandfather, was born shortly thereafter. An auspicious birth indeed, as would later be discovered when the Bishopric of Enbarr put their Hanneman machine to use on the newborn girl. For the first time since their divergence from the main Imperial line, her family had produced a full-blooded Crest of Seiros.

Such news might have been even more welcome in the earlier days of their existence. However, the reigning Emperor, Anselm VI, had few issues of succession. His own eldest had been blessed much the same as Adelaide, and the succession was unlikely to be challenged. Her grandfather, himself nearing the end of his life, used what favor he still held in the Imperial court to arrange a match between the prize of his lineage and the main line: when she came of age, Adelaide would be wed to Engel von Hresvelg, her second cousin and the future Emperor of Adrestia, such that the future of both branches would be all the brighter for their union.

Such a legacy loomed heavy over Adelaide as she grew. It was all but assured that she would one day sit at the head of the mightiest Empire Fódlan had ever known, albeit at the side of her husband as a consort to the throne. It would not do for a consort of the Hresvelg line to be anything less than perfect, however, and so from her earliest days, Adelaide was drilled in all matters of noble endeavor. She trained in the yard with her knightly father in the mornings, practicing sword and lance and horse, reading history and philosophy in the afternoons, and learning courtesy and kindness at her mother's knee in the nights. It was a difficult regime, one that some might have been forgiven for coming to despise. Not Adelaide, however. Even as a child, she met the challenges with eagerness and vigor. One day, she would wed an Emperor, after all. It would not do for her to be a simple page in her husband's history book. She would be just as exalted as he.

But the fates had something else in mind for dear Adelaide. She was just a girl of six when whispers of plague in the far-flung provinces of the Empire began circulating the court. By the time she was ten, it had managed to reach as far as the capital, and once it made its way into the palace itself, not even the Emperor's children were spared. One, then two, then three and four. The disease had taken four of the seven scions of Emperor Anselm, and not long after the youngest took their final breath, Adelaide's intended could handle no more grief and took his own life before their match could be officiated. She had been a girl of thirteen at the time, and with much of her future seeming to fade away with the dying embers of the Empire she had sought to one day preside over, for the first time in her life, the incessant drive to do more seemed to fade.

It was shortly after falling into such doldrums that her fate took another turn. She had been fortunate enough to avoid the plague until that point, in part due to the diligence of her father and his kinsmen. But shortly after her fourteenth birthday, despair turned to delirium, as fever and chills brought her low and confined her to a sickbed that had become the deathbed for so many of her relatives. It was in the throes of this terrible suffering that perhaps the single most pivotal moment of her life took place. It was during this time that she was graced by the warmth of the Goddess.

Though she could scarcely awaken long enough to see the face of her mother, the face of Sothis was as clear to her as the summer skies. The Goddess spoke to her and showed her things she could only have imagined in her wildest dreams: a proud and unified Fódlan. A prosperous continent, free from the nightmares of plague and infighting and treachery all. A Fódlan that thrived under the banner of Adrestia, as it had been in the time of Lycaon I. And it was no great Emperor of the future that brought such a glorious thing to life, but instead Adelaide herself. It was not some sweet dream, but a vision of what was to come. A destiny that needed to be fulfilled. The plague which had ravaged her would not take her life, Adelaide understood. It could not. For the Goddess had chosen her to bring Adrestia—and by extension, all of Fódlan—into a new golden age.

Some days after such reverent visions, Adelaide's fever suddenly broke, and she rose from her bed to the desperate relief of her mother and father. A relief that swiftly turned to exasperation, as the young girl immediately requested she be brought to her remaining tutors. A grand destiny awaited her, after all, and she only had so many years to prepare for it to unfold.

Any doubts about the validity of her visions were put to rest in the days following her recovery. When it was made clear that she suffered no lasting consequences from her foray with death itself, an order from the Imperial throne itself came down. With the death of Crown Prince Engel, his betrothed would assume his place as heir to the Empire, officially adopted into the mainline as the true born daughter of the House Hresvelg. Since she was old enough to want anything at all, she had thrown herself selflessly into the pursuit of greatness in the name of the throne. A throne that would be hers by the end of the decade. The years that followed were much as the ones that preceded them, with Adelaide throwing herself into her studies with a renewed zeal that few could hope to match.

In acknowledgment of her inheritance, an invitation to the officer's academy at Garreg Mach arrived in the wake of Adelaide's seventeenth birthday. A focal point for many of the future leaders of Fódlan, Adelaide was eager to accept. Where better could a woman who meant to rule the continent spend the waning years of her youth? There, she could learn from the very best minds the Church could offer, win the favor of her future vassals, and perhaps most importantly, determine who would be the greatest threats to the divinely ordained fate that lay ahead of her. In the name of the Goddess, she embarked just in time for the beginning of the school year.

Trivia

• Standing at just over five feet eight inches tall, Adelaide is rather tall for a woman of Adrestian stock. Her height has a tendency to be exaggerated by the regal bearing with which she carries herself.
• Adelaide's favorite food is Hasenpfeffer, or Pickled Rabbit Stew, to the less cultured members of Fódlan's nobility. She has a soft spot for most all foods steeped in vinegar, however.
• Despite being trained in most weapons, Adelaide has always favored the sword for its heroic connotations, believing it to be the weapon of Heroes and Kings alike. She is intensely interested in swordplay, and has been schooled in multiple Adrestian fencing styles.
• Contrary to her hawkish tendencies, Adelaide is a lover of the arts. Song and dance, in particular, have always been passions of hers, and she believes that any noble worth their title should be well-versed in classic ballroom dancing.

Fading Memory's System Interests

I'd love to try Household. :)

Fading Memory's System Interests

C'mon, dude, it's so frickin' cool, dude, you can be an orc or an elf with robot arms and a motorcycle and...

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

There were times when Tianshi wished that he was a more patient man. Perhaps it was for the best that he was not. A more patient man would have never left the temples behind, believing change could come from within the withering Earth Kingdom.

For what patience he lacked, it was clear enough that many of those present found themselves in ever greater scarcity of the precious virtue. Were it so simple that he could explain to the young woman the folly of her ways—that he could explain to them all the folly of their ways—then the war itself might have been halted before it started. But the people of the Earth Kingdom were the stalwart type. Their views were as difficult to uproot as the very ground itself.

Not that there was any lack of trying on that front. The sudden arrival of a gust of air surprised him, for such a feat was only truly possible for one of his kin. Yet all the same, when his dark hues cut across the impromptu battlefield, all he saw was a strangely dressed young man with a fiery hostility in his eyes. That sort of look was as foreign to a nomad as the action that followed, and the towering monk's eyes as he thrust his staff forward to loose a swift blast of air which connected with the intervening bender's strike with an explosive 'crack'.

For one of his people to throw an attack of such force against an unsuspecting opponent was already ridiculous enough. The tirade that followed only baffled Tianshi the more. His mien shifted from severe to incredulous for a time, and a thousand words played at his lips. Who was this young man? Who was he to speak with such disdain for the nomads whilst considering himself a contemporary? The boy could airbend, that much was not in question, and yet how could somebody who so readily spoke with pride at the notion of 'sides' in a conflict consider himself an airbender?

A more damning question to ask, perhaps, was how much good would refuting his points do?

The young woman who had kicked oil into the metaphorical fire certainly cared little for his preaching, and already she was off in search of her fellow 'rebels' in what was looking to become quite a skirmish. Shortsighted as he was prideful, the Earth Kingdom commander seemed to have locked his horns with the notion that both he and the newcomer had no right to oppose their authority. The earth itself seemed to quake beneath Tianshi's feet, as the ground grew into a tomb to encase those who remained. At the same time, it seemed the waterbender whom he had earlier dispatched returned to take up arms with the other airbender; a vexing state of affairs.

"I share allegiance with no aggressor. My 'side' is my own."

A quick puff of air saw the hulking monk take to the air with uncanny grace, his toes just barely gracing the lip of the growing barricade before another carried him further into the air and backward beside. The roof of a nearby shop facing the waterfront made for a convenient perch in the heartbeat it took him to decide his next plan of action: he had intervened in this conflict to try and divert attention away from the fishery. It was inevitable that the Earth Kingdom soldiers would circle back around to pillage through it in search of more 'convicts'.

What is past is left behind.
The future is as yet unreached.

The wisdom of the sutras carried him forward. There was no point in lamenting what was, or agonizing over what will be. Only in doing what could be. If the remaining soldiers were to capture an airbender, then he would see that their duty carried them away from the wharves as a whole. Thick arms braced along the length of his staff, and as the soldiers pivoted to face him, Tianshi leaped once more into the sky, this time cutting through the air in a wide, sweeping stroke. The wind that collected along his precious glider took flight in the way of a long, blunt wave of wind that served to knock all four of the soldiers from the root of their stances and onto their backs. In the moments they found their footing again, so too did Tianshi, landing along the footpaths leading off in the direction of the others.

He stared them down only for a moment, as if challenging them to come after him, and then with an unnaturally quickness, turned heel and began a hurried retreat farther into town.

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

If the situation was like a storm, brewing with dark clouds and ominous winds on the horizon, then it was not so much after Tianshi's plea that the parties involved cease that conflict that the first crack of thunder sounded. The earth itself seemed to tremble under his feet for a split second, close enough for him to feel yet far enough for him to know it meant him no harm. A glance in the direction of the disturbance informed him easily enough what it was: a large, artificial construct of earth seemed to ring the skirmishing ground, entrapping himself and the soldiers and young lady alike within. Or, perhaps, keeping those outside the area out, given the barking voice that seemed to follow its appearance. Perhaps one of the soldiers amidst the humiliated captain's party was more prudent than their commanding officer, ensuring that civilians would not be injured in the fray to follow.

Or separate them from the true threat making itself known.

An agonized shriek cut through the air outside the makeshift barrier, and a bellow that the fugitives—whom Tianshi had tried valiantly to buy time for—had been discovered. Worse yet, the path of non-violence seemed beyond them, based on the pain in the soldier's voice just beyond the barricade. A path that, itself, seemed to be evading even the nomad in the seconds that followed. The slabs of earth and stone hefted by the soldiers on his side of the barricade seemed to begin to fly, soaring in the direction of both himself and the young woman with her blade. Were he a more avoidant nomad, like the old monks in the temples, he might have chosen such a time to take flight. Evade and escape, before becoming entangled further in a conflict that was not his to fight either way. To simply fly around the storm and seek calmer shores.

Like a stubborn bison, he instead chose to fly right into its path. With an uncanny quickness, the staff in his hand seemed to flick forward once, twice, and then three times. A heavy stone that had hurdled towards himself seemed to change course at the last moment, instead colliding with the barricade with a heavy 'crack'. Another stone, directed towards the young lady, cut a sudden left, soaring well past her and into the barricade behind, and the third stone, smaller than the other two, flew off into the bay beyond, completely thrown off course by the swift burst of air that followed each of the monk's thrusts. Another volley seemed to find its way into the space between them, and with practiced precision, each projectile was thwarted by the timely intervention of the wind itself, often just enough to correct its course and see it safely disposed of.

Two of the men were not so foolish as to continue lobbing rocks ineffectually when the source of their disrupted aim remained, however, and so from the corner of his eye, Tianshi observed the textbook motions of earthbenders working in tandem, the men both assuming a sturdy stance and shifting their arms to hurl a much larger piece of earth toward him, such that his careful redirections could not see it so easily displaced. But as they made to stomp their feet in tandem, the root of their strength, the implacable earth below, left them. In the span of a breath, Tianshi's staff ducked low and then shot up, launching an updraft that caused the duo to hurdle into the skies. As gravity took hold of them and they seemed to drop back to earth, the end of his staff opposite to his thrust cut a sharp line through the air, bringing with it a powerful gust that carried them away from the hard ground below, and off into the nearby sea.

"I admire your courage, young lady, but I implore you to stand down. If you insist on harming these men, I will have no choice but to treat you much the same."

A sterner warning than perhaps most of his kin would be willing to give, but a necessary one all the same. He could not consider himself a neutral party in the matter, endeavoring for the safety of all, if he stood idly by and allowed the young woman to go about bludgeoning the troops she had provoked unchecked. The yelp of another soldier, apparently felled by the arrival of what looked to be a waterbender, cemented this in his mind.

With the speed of a viper-bat lashing out at its prey, the tip of his staff whipped forward suddenly toward the newest arrival, and with the snapping motion launched a burst of wind liable to send the man sprawling back into the sea from whence he came.

@Hero@webboysurf

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

The appearance of an interloper was not something Tianshi had expected. It was often the way of the common people to keep their heads down and carry on with their business in such situations. Some might have considered such cowardice, and yet the nomad would not tarnish their sacrifices with such misguided words: their difficulties were beyond the reckoning of those who would rattle sabers and puff their chests with bravado. Difficulties which would only be made worse if they drew the ire of the soldiers who oppressed them.

Perhaps that was what made the young man who approached him stand out so well. Despite being a small, slight fellow, he had the courage not only to make his presence known to the soldiers, but to directly contradict Tianshi's own words in encouraging *him* to stand down. Whether it was from some sort of misguided sense of patriotism, or a like-minded desire to avoid conflict, he could not say. But he could not allow the brave young man to interfere in his work. The longer he occupied the troops outside the establishment, the more time to escape those who might be within their sights. With a sternness in his brow, Tianshi's parted to retort toward the young man's words, and yet they seemed to die upon his lips as his eyes followed another encroacher making her way through the crowd.

"Amitabha..."

It was often said that the Air Nomads knew nothing of conflict, owing to the sanctity afforded to oaths of pacifism and their dedication to peace. An erroneous thing to believe. For one to strive to avoid conflict—and indeed, to de-escalate it—one needed to have a solid understanding of the flow that led those to clash against one another. The young woman carried herself in such a way that even a pacifist could see the trouble to come, like a storm brewing far over the horizon. When that storm crashed against the rocky shores by the fishery... it was almost inevitable that a fight would be had. Turning with grace, the towering monk bowed his head towards the young man who had interrupted him earlier.

"A thousand pardons for this, young man, but may I ask a favor of you? Please, hold this."

The heavy sack of grain that hung so easily from his shoulder swung about to hang, instead, before the pale youth. It was Tianshi's hope, of course, that the safety of such precious food be preserved. Whether the young man accepted it from him or not, however, it mattered little. The sound of earth breaking beneath foot and shouting indicated that he had little enough time to argue about tender morsels of rice. If the boy did not accept the sack, it would drop to the ground all the same.

And without its weight in his hands, Tianshi was free to contain the collision unfolding before him. His eyes snapped back to the young woman, brandishing her sword as if the scabbard did not still hang from its blade. He watched carefully as tensions reached their boiling point, and fate turned against them, a boulder hurdling through the air. He was already in motion as it soared forward, even as the girl danced around it and charged the man. It was neither of them he concerned himself with, however. In the span of a heartbeat, he was gone from where he once stood. The wind at his heels carried him into the path of the earthen projectile.

A resonant 'clap' followed as he caught the boulder with his unoccupied hand, the muscles of his arm tensing as he dissipated what energy remained behind it. His fingers were as iron as they gripped along its craggy exterior, lowering it to the ground from which it came. There may have been a battle unfolding, but the location of such a reckless battle was not lost on him: there were still people all around the marketplace, and rarely did stones care to slow for civilians. Much as the wind had carried him to intercept the stone, it carried him into the fray, the imposing monk positioning himself opposite the soldiers and the young woman. Unlike his initial approach, however, his staff came to rest in both his palms, fingers wrapped around it as he brought it to bear.

"I urge you to reconsider your actions! All of you! There is no need for this situation to spiral out of control and devolve into unchecked violence. No one else needs to be injured over this matter."

Avatar: The White Jade Gambit

"Your kindness is much appreciated, Mr. Kang. I shall see this bounty put to good use."

It was in the spirit of a small triumph that Tianshi found his head bowing low, although for a man of his stature, even low was still quite a bit higher than most of the other patrons milling about the marketplace. Humility was an important virtue to internalize, however, and the nomad was not shy in showing his gratitude to the humble merchant to whom he had traded a relatively small number of copper pieces in return for his provisions. Regardless of how mortified the gentleman seemed to be at his overt display of thankfulness.

"It's nothing, ah, really, just, remember what we discussed, hmm? If you ever find yourself in Gaoling..."

"Miss Li shall hear your words. Of this I assure you."

Such an exchange of services was not one foreign to the monk. In his years of roaming across the world, he very rarely carried much in the way of currency with him. What little he did carry, he used only for nourishment and—increasingly, in an era of senseless warfare—charity to those less fortunate. It was by his word and deed that Tianshi managed to live and provide the necessities for himself and his bison. In a nation where distances staggered the mind and most souls never set foot outside their home villages, there was true value in bringing news from afar to them in an expedient matter. Even for those with fortunes allowing for the purchase of a courier service, the roads were never a sure thing. Banditry and corrupt officials were liable to intercept most correspondence before it arrived at a locale as far-flung as Gaoling.

And some words were better left spoken than written. Something the merchant named Kang had surely made his peace with when he uttered them to the sympathetic ear of a wandering monk with more need for rice than time. The hefty sack of grain found its way across Tianshi's thick shoulder, and he offered another, shorter bow of his head as his fingers coiled around the haft of his staff. Triumph could only sustain a man for so long, and he had more business to attend to before moving on to the next leg of his journey.

"Blessings upon you and yours in these trying times, Mr. Kang."

And so he was off, back into the bustling streets of an otherwise fairly calm fishing town. The smell was never something he had acclimated well to: even during his brief forays to the poles, where there was little and less to subsist on but the bounty one could pull from the sea. Complicated though his relationship with aquatic life and its subsequent harvesting was, there was still some small satisfaction to be had in seeing a settlement that had little struggle in providing for itself. There were places further inland that could not say the same, and he could not help but consider them as he felt the weight of the rice on his back. Perhaps there were some stop-overs to be had along the way to Miss Li's manse. The wind often took unpredictable routes to its destination, after all.

Something made readily apparent by the sudden rush of air that followed in the wake of a commotion yet unfolding. The nomad could only watch as a group of soldiers hurried to surround an otherwise nondescript building near the docks. An unfortunate thing to see. There was a time, he was sure, when the sight of earthbending troops made the people of the Earth Kingdom feel safe. But Tianshi had been robbed of the opportunity of living in such a time. Usually, when King Wei's military made itself known, only suffering followed in their footsteps, the common folk crushed beneath the weight of a mountain made manifest.

It was the way of the wind to dance around such obstacles. To take the path of least resistance, and flow around the mighty mountain. Even in the face of such a monolith, it had little to fear, free and unbound as it was.

“Fugitives? You think even those desperate sods would want to hang around fish of all things?”

A voice found his ear all the same, and the wind in Tianshi's step became a doldrum.

“If you don’t have anything to hide, then you won’t mind if we check.”

Another voice, louder, more demanding. The wind beneath his feet picked up once more. Only, rather than swirl about the sturdy mountain before him with ethereal grace, it led him directly towards the peak.

"Amitabha, proud defender, and a blessed day upon you and your number," The monk's voice came not as a gentle breeze, but as a proud gale, his stature and years of training doing well in helping him project his voice, "Might you honor a humble wanderer with the knowledge of what brings such valiant men here?"

Tianshi did not hold himself with particular malice, nor aggression, a walking stick palmed in one hand and a sack of grain hung over the shoulder opposite. And yet he stood tall and proud all the same. A curious sight, and one all the better to focus to the exclusion of their original target.

Think not lightly of good, saying, "It will not come to me." Drop by drop is the water pot filled. Likewise, the wise man, gathering it little by little, fills himself with good.

The words of his master danced through his mind's eye just as easily as the wind had done a moment earlier.

May these drops nourish those in need.