Banquet and Training Routine

Xiao played throughout the entire evening, performing with his flames when it was time for the dance. People were awes by the beautiful flowers and animals swirling around the room, applauding at the end of the performance with fervor.

This made Xiao smile.

However, his smile quickly turned to a suprised look as Lao Beifong introduced his daughter, Toph.

"Thank you for your patience everyone! It is now time for me to introduce to you my daughter and the main reason for this event, Toph Beifong! She is not yet of age, being only nine years old, however she will become quite the beauty when she grows older! I'm sure of it!" He said with a proud smile as he presented his daughter.

It wasn't her beauty or anything like that that surprised Ciao, but the fact that this delicate little girl was the same one that was beating up jacked restless in the tournament that had happened a week ago.

'Well that was unexpected… she probably snuck out based on how protective her parents seem… Therefore I won't make a scene.' Xiao thought to himself as the people throughout the room murmured amongst themselves.

Xiao watched Toph as she became more and more uncomfortable due to the people's comments.

"She's blind? Too much work, don't choose her son

"What a beauty, too bad she's damaged goods…"

"I don't care what she's like, she could be ugly as hell but you still need to marry her, her family's loaded after all…"

Xiao took a deep breath. 'Assholes.' He thought to himself while keeping a calm look plastered to his face.

For the next hour Toph was paraded around the room by her parents as they showed her off. Eventually, they sat her down and Lao Beifong gestured it Xiao to come over.

Xiao finished the song he was playing a politely made his way over to the center of the room where the table was located.

Lao smiled when Xiao got there, receiving and awkward smile on return. "Toph, we have hired a new guard today! However this one is special. His name is Xiao and is a fire bender from the Fire Nation, a high ranking officer at that! He also is the one who has been playing the flute throughout the banquet!" Poppy said to Toph, holding her arm and gently guiding the girl's head towards where Ciao stood.

He smiled. "Greetings, Ms. Beifong! A pleasure to meet you." He said. Toph had a startled look for a second before smiling back. 'I guess she recognizes my voice…' Xiao mused.

"Hello guard Xiao. Nice to meet you! I liked your music, perhaps you can play for me from time to time?" She asked.

Xiao smiled. "Of course!" He said. Lao and Poppy meanwhile we're completely oblivious to the fact that they new each to get, instead smiling before Lao shoo'ed Xiao away.

Xiao went back to playing until the banquet ended. When it ended, Lao came over to him and lead him to a room. "Due to the fact that you are much above the other guards in terms of skill and rank, I will gift you this room during your stay. However, I would like to warn you of a few things before I do so." Lao Beifong said as his normally causal smile turned serious.

Xiao nodded.

"I only hired you because I found you trust worthy. I think of myself as a good judge of character. However if you ever step out of line, even by a bit, or harm my daughter or wife in any way, I sweat by the spirits and by the earth itself that I will kill you with my own two hands. Don't disappoint me." And with that sour note, Lao Beifong closed the door in Xiao's face.

The otherwise happy ending. To the night turned serious with a eerie feeling in the air as Xiao fell asleep.

Xiao woke up at sunrise the next morning, and roamed the halls until he found a fellow guard. Lao apparently allowed him to wear whatever he wangled doing Xiao stuck with his typical get up.

"Hey there…" Xiao said, trailing off. "Zhou." The guard said. "Zhou! I'm, where are the training grounds?" Xiao asked.

The guard pointed down the hallway he just came from. "That way. Make a left at the split." The guard replied. Xiao smiled. "Thanks man!" He said. The guard gave a small smile and continued onward. 'Nice kid.' He thought as he passed Xiao.

Xiao continued onward until he reached a split in the hallway, turning left and just like the guard Sai, there was a walled-of area of packed dirt at the end of the hallway.

Lao smiled and started doing his training, mostly by shadow-sparring with his sword. He found some training weights that he clasped to his ankles and wrists to make it harder.

After an hour of that, Xiao was sweating profusely, so he took a break by having thirty minutes of meditation. Iroh had taught him about the spirit world and such, but Xiao was still unable yo access it. Iroh said it was like he was almost 'locked' out of the realm of the spirits.

Despite that, Xiao always enjoyed clearing his head of useless thoughts. It was relaxing and invigorating.

When he finished, Xiao moved on to training his fire bending.

So, he did the exercise that he himself created. Xiao would shoot out a fireball at a target ten feet away from himself, but stop the fireball an inch short of the target, making sure not to damage it. He would then bring the fire back to him and absorb it back into his palm.

This helped Xiao's control over his flames, while also allowing him to train absorbing the energy he released in the form of flames back into himself. This conserved energy during fights and was a very useful move.

'Fire benders use the energy they contain within themselves to fan their flames, while using their emotions as fuel. When released, these two things paired together produce fire.

On the other hand, if a fire bender wants to bend lightning, he must use no emotion whatsoever, instead relying solely on one's own energy. This is much more taxing on the bender and requires a lot of control.

The reason why Xiao was able to turn his fire back j to energy is because of his control. He shoots the flames out, and when he re-absorbs them, he takes away their fuel and let's the raw energy flow into him.

This implements the redirecting lightning technique as well as normal fire bending.

Finally, Xiao finished with the exercise and headed towards Lao Beifong's office to meet up with him, apparently the man wanted to talk to Xiao about something important.

{A/N}

Imma be honest, I didn't want to do anything today but I still gave you a chapter. So I don't care about the quality or anything.

Still I hope you enjoyed it. I'm tired.