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Yong Yaozu

Meaning: Brave Honored Ancestors

Nickname: Yao

Player: Tiger Lifts the Mountain

Gender: Male

Affiliation: Fire Nation

Age: 12

Stage: Child

Likes:

Sculpting:
Yaozu's pottery background gave him a love for creating with clay. Much of this extends to sculpting small ceramic animals, pottery and other knick-knacks with relative ease. If he puts his mind to it, Yaozu can even create pieces that can gain him a little extra cash here and there. (Not works of art...just more utilitarian items.)

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(Three years ago…)

Yong Yaozu cleared his mind as he stood at the ready, his training forcing him to concentrate on his breathing. Situated next to him and in the same stance, his father Yong Zihao calmly led the pair through their next kata.

“Alright, once more from the top. Focus on your movements and don’t worry about how quick you are. Speed will come with practice.”

Yaozu let his father’s instructions echo in his ears, mentally preparing himself.

“Ready? One…”

Both figures slowly advanced into their first motion sliding a balled fist to the fore.

“Two…”

The pair shifted the weight of their feet and gracefully raised their legs into a kick.

“Three…”

The motions came very easy to Yaozu. After all, he had practiced them since he could walk. And since then, he and his father would come everyday to the same spot near the river to rehearse their fire crane katas and later return to the Shoppe to work on Yaozu’s pitiful fire bending.

“Four…”

Yaozu gritted his teeth in frustration. It had been four years since his training had started and his father had yet to teach him an open flame technique. All he ever worked on was the “Fire Within” bend and it sickened him to think he was falling behind other benders his age. Pretty soon it would be time for him to seek a master. And if he could not impress him with a rudimentary flame display…

“Five…”

Who am I kidding, thought Yaozu.
We’ve barely enough money to eat, let alone send me to the Capitol. I’ll never be able to train with a master. And before you know it, it’ll be too late and I’ll get stuck making pottery for the rest of my life.

“Six…”

Yaozu returned to his ready stance, glad that the kata was over. Looking over his shoulder, he watched his father take a deep breath, reflect for a moment and then break his stance.

“Well, that’s enough for today. Let’s head back to the workshop and I’ll set up your project for the afternoon.”

Yaozu rolled his eyes.
“What? Another bowl or vase to cure? Wow, that should be challenging.”

Zihao took his son’s rancor with a grain of salt.
“You need to bide your time, son. Perfecting the fire within…”

“…is the first step to perfecting the fire without. I know, I know,” huffed Yaozu as he picked up his pack.
“But how else am I going to get better if I don’t learn open flame styles?”

Zihao listened to the pleading with a patient nod before responding.

“Your grandfather was a master of the Fire Within technique. It was said that he could melt iron without shedding a single lick of flame. This kind of stealth is what led him to glory in the Ember ranks.”

Yaozu bristled with excitement. To hear stories told about his grandfather and the Order of the Undying Ember sent chills up his spine. He often daydreamed about rising through their numbers to become the greatest assassin in the Fire Lord’s service.

Zihao watched his son’s face fill with wonder. He loved hearing about the adventures of Yong Leifeng.
Was I so different back then?, he mused.

“So would you like to hear about his greatest feat? That one that gained him the most renown?”

“Would I!” piped Yaozu.
“I thought I’d heard them all!”

Zihao chuckled.
“Not all of them, Yao. This is one I’ve saved for a long time.”

“Go on!”
Yaozu was all ears as the pair walked down the path towards the village.

“Well, by the time it happened, your grandpa was already well known for his skill as an assassin and spy. In fact, it was his fame among the Embers that had brought him to the Fire Lord’s attention. It was during the Third Great War, when the mudder fleet had placed a blockade around Qianfan, our wealthiest port.”

Yaozu smiled at the jab used for the Earth Kingdom navy.

Seeing that he still had Yaozu’s attention, Zihao continued.

“The people of Qianfan had expected our lord to respond quickly. But even after a week, not a single ship had been dispatched. This was because unbeknownst to any but his closest advisors, the Fire Lord had been undone by treachery.”

Yaozu hung on his father’s every word, visualizing the dilemma in his mind.

“Weeks before, while on a visit to distant Lusheng, the Queen Mother had been kidnapped by agents of the Earth Kingdom. And by the time our lord was informed, she had been spirited inland to the Red Stone Tower, where she was kept hostage by the Mandarin.”

Yaozu furrowed his brow in confusion. “Why did he do that?”

Zihao continued.
“Parental duty, boy. The Mandarin knew that the Fire Lord wouldn’t risk his mother’s death by coming to Qianfan’s aid.”

Yaozu nodded in understanding.

“But what he didn’t know, was that our lord had devised a plan so daring that only the greatest of his spies could bring the Queen back safely.”

“And that was Grandpa, right?” added Yaozu.

“Precisely,” said Zihao.
“His mission was to stow aboard a mudder ship bound for the coast and travel fifty miles overland to the Red Stone Tower. Once there, he disguised himself as a slave and smuggled her majesty out in a laundry cart. This was the quality of his cunning, son.”

“Wait. Didn’t the Mandarin ever find out?” Yaozu asked.

“Certainly. But by then, your grandpa and the Queen Mother had a head start that fugitives only dream of!” he laughed. “Once the chase was on though, things got tougher. Father was behind enemy lines without any supplies or friends. And the Queen Mother, gods bless her, could barely keep up. So in order to keep the pace they set from their escape, your grandpa risked traveling on the Dongjiang River.”

Zihao paused to let Yaozu absorb the information.

“Unfortunately, the Mandarin had expected this. And that’s how he and twenty of his Stone Golems intercepted your grandpa, just as he reached the river mouth.”

Yaozu gasped, “What happened then?”

“The battle was fierce. Father had the double-duty of fighting the Mandarin’s soldiers while protecting the Queen Mother; no small task indeed. But in the end, only one technique saved him.”

Yaozu’s excitement was too much to bear.
“And that was…?”

Zihao dropped the hammer.
“Fire Within, boy! Focusing all his chi into his bending, he let loose a burst of invisible heat so intense that the golems cracked like over baked pots! This sent the Mandarin running like a frightened bully back to his tower.”

Realizing that he’d fallen into his father’s trap, Yaozu tossed his head back with a groan.
“Gods on high, I get it! You want me to learn the Fire Within! Can’t we change the subject?”

Zihao laughed.
“Fire bending isn’t easy, Yao. Control is the most important aspect to master. That is why heat, more so than flame, is the medium by which control is tested. And that is why I make you fire pots to practice.”

They walked in silence for some time. Eventually, Yaozu thought to test his father’s resolve.
“Father, did you ever use Grandpa’s techniques when you served the Fire Lord?”

Zihao’s face darkened slightly.
“All the time.”

Hoping to lure his father into a verbal trap of his own, Yaozu continued.
“And were you as powerful as Grandpa was when you joined the Embers?”

Zihao stared into the distance.
“At my peak, yes.”

Now it was Yaozu’s turn.
“Then why won’t you teach me to melt metal, shatter stone and unleash my strength?”

The response was immediate.
In the blink of an eye, Zihao grabbed Yaozu’s arm and cupping his chin in a strong grip, locked his son’s eyes with his.

“Don’t rush the day that you become a powerful fire bender, Yaozu. Fire’s natural path is to consume. And it is always easier for fire to destroy than to create.”

Yaozu stared in shock at the intensity of his father’s eyes. The anger and frustration at Yaozu’s antics were in them, to be certain. But something lingered in the back of those black pools that spoke from experience.
It was regret.
Guilt.

In time, Zihao loosened his grip on Yaozu and took him into a deep embrace.

“There are many faults that can lead a man to ruin, son. But none are more punishing than pride and hubris. If ever you’ve loved me as a father, please remember that.”

Releasing the embrace, Yaozu nodded. The pair stood in silence for a brief moment, and then turned to continue their walk to the village.

As they walked, Yaozu reflected on what he knew of his father.
He knew that he was a powerful warrior and fire bender.
He knew that he and his uncle had followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, eventually becoming an Ember.

And Yaozu knew that at one point during his service, his father had done something so shameful that the Fire Lord forbade him from ever bending again and banished him to this distant island.
Exile instead of execution.

A fate worse than death, thought Yaozu.

Yaozu shuddered nervously. He had hoped to tell his father of the bending he had taught himself, but Zihao’s reaction to his bellyaching was enough to keep Yaozu’s mouth shut.

For now, Yaozu would continue to sneak into the forest with his father’s manuals and decipher the ancient litanies within.

And one day, when he was strong enough, Yaozu would demonstrate his power and control to his father. Then he would have no choice but to send him to learn from a master.

After that, Yaozu would join the Fire Lord’s service and perhaps even gain the Fire Lord’s attention!

And when the day came that his lord asked for his name, he would proudly proclaim…

I am Yong Yaozu, son of Yong Zihao.

…And his father’s shame would be undone.