Chapter 60: The Many Ceremonies

Widow was sitting in the grassy plain with the rest of the Earth Kingdom and Bending Tower. She was talking to her best friend, Raven - he was a dark black wolf, and was smaller than Widow, but the two had been best friends since they were pups.
"We're way better than The Bending Tower," Raven stated. "I mean, we're stronger, we have great warriors, and we're more populated than they are. No wonder they were desperate to get us to defeat the Firebenders, look at us!"
Widow giggled. "Agreed."
"Yeah, with me on their side, no Firebenders will touch us!" Raven boasted.
Widow nodded. "Yeah, we're trained better than they are."
"If a Firebender ever tried to hurt you, Widow, I'd make sure it wouldn't live to see another day," insisted Raven, sounding like hadn't heard Widow's last remark.
Widow was about to reply when a tiger-like animal on two legs ran up to Widow. "Ash! Hey, Ash!"
"Excuse me?" Widow cocked her head.
"Yeah, Ash! I gotta show you something!" the tiger exclaimed.
"Who are you?" Raven grumbled.
"It's me, Tiggerkat!" the tiger said. "Ash! Follow me!"
"I'm not Ash!" Widow protested. "Who's Ash?"
"You are! Did you hit your head?" Tiggerkat laughed.
"No, but I'll bet you did," Widow snorted.
Tiggerkat sighed. "Poor you, Ash. Guess I'll talk to you when you're sane." With that, Tiggerkat hopped away.
"Who in Lifebreeze's land was that?!" demanded Raven.
"I don't know! And why was she calling me 'Ash'? I don't even know an Ash!" Widow exclaimed.
"Widow! Widow!"
Widow turned to see Nyla running towards her. "What?" Widow growled.
Nyla ignored her hostility as always. "There's an animal here who looks just like you!"
"Really?" Raven snorted. "You sure?"
"Of course I am!" Nyla insisted. "Follow and I'll show you!"
"Fine," sighed Widow. What have I got to lose? Widow thought.
Nyla then started walking, and Widow, exchanging looks with Raven, followed, the soft grass brushing her paws. Raven followed close to Widow, looking curious as to what Nyla had found. Widow had to agree; was Nyla just pulling her leg? Then again, Nyla didn't ever pull pranks before.
"Right here!" said Nyla, stopping, nodding in a direction.
Widow looked and her eyes widened; Nyla was right. A male wolf who looked exactly like Widow was sitting down, talking to a Dalmatian. Pretty much the only difference between the two were their eye colors - this wolf's eyes were blue, whereas Widow's were green.
"Who is he?" Raven growled.
"I don't know, but I don't know why we look alike," Widow grumbled.
"Me neither," Nyla shook her head. "What do you think it is?"
"Well, it can't be coincidence..." Widow muttered.


"I'm telling you, Ash, there's a wolf here who looks identical to you," Spots insisted.
"I know, I saw her," Ash sighed.
"And by the looks of things, she knows you're here, too," Spots nodded.
Ash turned to where Spots was looking; the look-alike, Widow, was standing next to the black wolf Raven who Ash had seen with her previously, along with a Border Collie. Widow looked right at Ash but then quickly turned to Raven and muttered something to him, and Raven nodded something back, glaring at Ash. The Border Collie just studied Ash with interest.
"Geez, what's his problem?" demanded Spots, seeing Raven's glaring.
"Don't know," Ash shook his head. "The Earth Kingdom don't trust others well I think."
"D'you know why she looks like you?" Spots asked.
"Nope," Ash said. "It's probably coincidence, I mean, what other reason is there?"
"She could be like, your cousin or something," Spots suggested.
"I don't think my parents had siblings," Ash muttered. They probably would've told me.
Then, Quake walked up to Ash, and Spots flinched at the gorilla's size; it was true that Quake looked quite intimidating, but Quake wasn't very scary for real, he was mostly just a loyal Earthbender, and would only hurt an enemy, not any animal on his side.
"I need to call a meeting and elect my deputy," Quake said.
"That's fine," Ash shrugged.
"Earthbenders! Gather!" Quake bellowed. "Oh yeah," he whispered, as if remembering something. "Bending Tower too, I guess!" he added.
Everyone gathered in front of Quake and Ash - who were they only two leaders in the group of Benders.
"Those of you in the Earth Kingdom - and that Bending Tower patrol - know that Dusk died. So did Nota."
With this, there came a grief-filled silence from the patrol and the Earth Kingdom, but The Bending Tower only exchanged confused looks and didn't look very sympathetic, as they didn't know who Dusk or Nota were; Ash didn't either, but tried to look sorry for the Earth Kingdom.
"Because of this, I became leader and I must elect a second-in-command, or deputy of the Prospering Earth," Quake said.
"What?" Ash whispered.
Quake turned to Ash. "Um, Prospering Earth. You know, what made us the Earth Kingdom," Quake replied, giving Ash a look as if he had two heads. Quake then turned back to the crowd and made his voice louder. "I have thought about this decision and decided who the new deputy will be."
There was a silence, and Ash could detect the tension from the Earth Kingdom..
"Our new deputy," Quake said, "shall be Raven."
The Earthbenders broke into murmurs. Ash looked at Raven, and Widow was standing next to him, face absolutely full of joy for her friend. Then the Earthbenders began cheering - all except, Ash noticed, a darker black wolf who looked like he could possibly be Raven's father.
Ash then saw Widow exclaim something and nuzzle Raven, beaming at him. Raven returned with a smile and walked up towards Quake, with howls of approval ringing loud and clear from the Earthbenders. Some animals of The Bending Tower joined in to try and be polite.
"Thanks," Raven nodded, standing next to Quake. "It...it is truly an honor to become deputy. I hope one day to be able to lead the Earth Kingdom to its glory, in which the Earth Kingdom will never have to be controlled by the Fire Nation ever again."
With this, the Earth Kingdom cheered louder, but Ash studied Raven curiously - the speech Raven made sounded a bit disrespectful, as if saying he could do a way better job than how their former leader had, but no one else seemed to have noticed. Raven saw Ash looking at him and gave Ash a glare once more, before turning back to the crowd with a nod.
What is his problem? Ash wondered.
Raven then returned to sit back with Widow, who began talking to him rapidly as he sat back down, and Quake turned to Ash. "Anything you need to say before we end the meeting?" he asked.
"Oh - as a matter of fact, yeah," Ash nodded. He then cleared his throat and said loudly, to make himself heard, "We need to have three new apprentices. Streak, Nzuri and Patch--"
With this, the three kits yelled out with delight, only to be hushed by Rainbow, who looked full of pride.
"They have shown that they are ready to become apprentices, and each will be mentored by one of our own Benders. Streak, which Bender do you want to be?"
"Earthbender!" Streak said, literally shaking with excitement.
Ash then scanned some of the Earthbenders. He first looked at Stone, who was laying down next to Darner, who was whispering something to her. No, not Stone... Ash then looked at River. Nah...I need to give a younger Bender a chance. Then, Ash's eyes laid on Raoul. He'll be perfect - Streak will be his first apprentice, then.
"Streak, your mentor will be Raoul - Raoul has proven himself a great Bender, and will teach you well." Ash nodded.
Streak nodded, eyes big and mouth in a grin, and ran over to Raoul - he fell down, but quickly recovered - and, looking embarrassed as animals around giggled in amusement, sat next to Raoul, and Raoul smiled down at his new apprentice.
"Nzuri, what Bender do you want to be?"
"Airbender," Nzuri replied steadily, as if showing she was way more mature than Streak.
"Alright," Ash nodded, and began scanning some of the Airbenders...No, not Light, she would never have enough patience to mentor an apprentice yet...not Charlotte, she was already training Leafy...Ash then looked at Slice. Perfect.
"Nzuri, your mentor will be Slice - Slice, although underestimated when she arrived as a loner, has proven herself to be truly worthy of being a Bender in The Bending Tower. Slice, teach Nzuri well," Ash said.
Nzuri trotted calmly towards Slice, eyeing Streak as if saying, "THIS is how it's done", and sat down besides Slice, and Slice smiled at her. Miguel, sitting beside, Slice, nodded encouragingly.
"Patch, what Bender do you want to be?" Ash asked.
"W-Waterbender," Patch squeaked, looking very nervous.
Ash then began scanning the Waterbenders, trying to decide. Shell...Eris...Clover...Twister. Twister would be perfect for the job.
"Patch, your mentor will be Twister," Ash said. "Twister is a very intelligent and quick Bender, I am sure Patch would love to learn a few things from her."
Twister smiled at Ash, mouthed "thank you", and turned to look at Patch, who trotted up to Twister nervously and then sat down next to Twister.
"Mind if I do another ceremony first?" Ash whispered to Quake.
"Not at all," Quake shook his head. "We've waited for millions of moons until this rebellion, it won't hurt to wait a bit longer." He smiled at Ash.
Ash nodded, then turned back to the crowd. "I also have another ceremony to do. Nightgale, Kirin and Stella."
The three she-wolves stepped forward to come in front of Ash.
"Nightgale, Stella and Kirin are ready to become full Benders," Ash announced. He then closed his eyes. Please remember the ceremony. But, the words quickly came back to him, and he remembered them. I'll make Nightgale a full Healer first, Ash decided. "Peacebenders, hear my words as I make Nightgale into a full Healer. She has worked hard to understand the ways of healing, and is ready to take her turn to become a full Healer. Nightgale, do you agree that you are ready to be a Healer, and that you can take on all of the responsibilities of healing the sick and t tending to injuries?"
"Yes," Nightgale nodded determinedly.
"Then with the help of the Peacebenders, you may get your wish. Nightgale, when I tap your head, the Peacebenders' powers will make you wiser, quicker, and a better Healer." Ash tapped Nightgale on the head, waited a few moments as Nightgale grew round-eyed, experiencing how the Peacebenders' magic worked - and then Ash spoke again.
"Nightgale, you are now officially a full Healer. Welcome Nightgale."
Ash then turned to do Stella and Kirin. "Peacebenders, hear my words as I make Stella and Kirin into full Benders..."

Author's Note:
Sorry for the sudden ending, the chapter was getting too long.
Check the new Misitu's Art Central post and my new story. >:U
Also, I updated the Meet the Benders page (obviously).
And why am I not getting as much comments as I used to anyway? ouo
Then again, everyone's probably vacationing.