"Kayne placed the last rock on the grave. Lrosa died in her sleep. It seems her body couldn't withstand the turmoil of her mind, the trauma of losing her kids, and her only children.
Kayne sat next to her body throughout the night, weeping. His arrogance gave way to his emotions, leaving our protagonist vulnerable to tears, crying like a baby, louder than a trumpet, all over Lrosa.
He was lost in thoughts, lost in ambitions, with no motive to live.
"How could this happen? You were alright, how could you!" he wailed.
With no guardian to look up to and no one to trust, he felt alone and sad. He sat in a dark pit he dug, waiting for death to escape loneliness as dawn broke in. The sun rose, and the light stabbed his eyes even though they were shut, illuminating the pit.
With these feelings, he didn't mind the loud rumbling of his stomach. He would sit still until hunger led him towards death.
Vroom! Vroom!
The ground shook with the sounds of heavy vehicles approaching. This alerted him, and he peeked up to see what it was.
Three heavy-duty trucks with cranes had begun clearing the swamp, digging, cutting, and paving through it. Kayne stared for a while, then lowered back into the hole to think. He wouldn't care if it crushed him.
Then it hit him. He realized that Lrosa's grave was also in the way, and they would drive over it without noticing if not stopped. He earthbent himself upward, throwing himself out of the hole, and began sprinting towards the men and the vehicles.
"Hey, stop!" he waved his arms as a signal to make his existence noticeable. But he was too small and short compared to the trucks, so the drivers couldn't see him down there. They drove on, moving forward right into Kayne's weak body, playing a pathetic role as a barricade.
He ran towards the grave and anticipated that the truck would run their direction. He decided to hatch a plan.
"I'm really glad for the assistance, Miss Asami. The city will be grateful for your help," said Tenzin.
"Don't thank me for this. This city is my home, and I'll be glad to help. Besides, the idea was yours," Asami replied.
"Korra had a hard time clearing these veins the last time. She needs her rest after stopping Kuvira," said Tenzin.
"I hope she gains energy soon. She will help me build this city into a beautiful paradise," said Asami.
Jing!! Shoo!!! [Hissing sound from the exhaust of the trucks]
"Why did the vehicles stop?" asked Asami.
Tenzin ran deeper into the swamp, and Asami followed him. They stopped to watch the other vehicles driving towards the boy in rags, standing fearless of the harm it could cause him.
"Who is that boy? Somebody get him out of the way," Tenzin bellowed.
Kayne stood with both arms up and his eyes closed, hoping the vehicles would stop. He opened his eyes to a realization.
"What am I doing? How did I become so weak?" he asked himself.
He fixed a firm stance with his feet, stomped his feet, and moved the land under the wheels of the truck, rolling it to the side with an elevation of the earth. He did the same to the rest and started to bend average-sized pebbles, tossing and raining them all over the driver's windshields. The drivers were then forced to come out as the others fled; the remaining stood to stare at the situation, only to get angry at Kayne's behavior and actions.
Raaaahh!!! Two men were intimidated and started to firebend at Kayne. He rolled away and shielded with a mud wall. The men started to shoot flames at him constantly in a spray.
"I can't move; how did I get so tired?" Kayne said to himself. He jumped into his pit close by and started an earth dance, swinging his arms around him.
"Stop!" keened Tenzin. The men stopped shooting fire as Tenzin ran past them to the wall to see who the boy was hiding behind it. He noticed the hole but found no one behind the wall and in the pit. He slowly took a peek inside it and saw a tiny tunnel dug at the side.
He lifted his eyebrows in question as to where the boy might have gone. Suddenly, he felt the ground rumbling and shaking.
Thoooom!!
The ground cracked and broke open. Tenzin blew himself away into the air and landed right next to the men. Asami joined them.
A boulder rose up out of the ground, floating in the air with the boy under it, becoming the earthbender responsible for this phenomenon.
Aaahh!!!!
"Who is that?" Tenzin asked.
The boy's face was covered with his hair, with his head looking down. He used his strength and pushed away the boulder towards the direction of the vehicles. Tenzin and the men were in the way.
"Look out!" screamed a man. They all fell to the ground to escape the boulder flying right across them. Asami opened her eyes to see a truck completely crushed.
Boom!!
"No!" she cried and ran to it. The bills for the damage ran through her head. The other men ran to her to assist her. Tenzin turned to see that Kayne was gone. He followed the path he assumed he took and caught a glimpse of him running into the swamp. He looked below him and saw a graveyard, then turned back and looked back at Kayne. The boy hid behind a large swamp vein and stared at the grave one last time before leaving. Tenzin saw from his action that he was protecting the graveyard that lay before him. He rushed to everyone else to check on the damaged vehicle.
"Don't worry, Madam Asami; we will catch that outlaw before you know it," the middle-aged worker promised.
"Leave the kid alone; he wasn't an outlaw; he was protecting something; a grave," he walked them to the spot covered with a heap of rocks. Tenzin dug a few gravels out and saw the corpse of a woman. His face showed nothing but sorrow.
"But we still have to clear the forest to make space, Sir Tenzin. This grave might get in our way," complained a worker.
"I'll get some men to move the body," replied Tenzin.
Meanwhile, at the Republic City Police, Lin Beifong had just captured a group of thugs. She returned to her squad, waiting on a roof. They had completed the construction of a floating metal prison infrastructure for serious cases with serious criminals. Kuvira was the first to be held there. She then returned to her desk. Tenzin walked in.
"Why did you come? You know I'm busy right now," she said, stressed.
He walked over closer to her desk. "I came to check on you... nothing serious, though," said Tenzin.
"I'm fine; we don't torture ourselves here, Tenzin. Not anymore, at least," said Lin.
"I heard you are clearing the spirit veins around the city. You understand not everyone in this is a fan of the spirits roaming around, now are you? We've received several reports from citizens claiming to have experienced paranormal attacks," she added.
"Our men, Asami and I, were attacked by someone, an earthbender. He destroyed one of Asami's trucks with a boulder," Tenzin said.
"I tried to find out who he was, and it turned out he was a boy, but I didn't see his face," he said.
"Did you get him?" asked Lin.
"No, he ran off, but he was protecting something; a graveyard. Probably a lost relative?" he said.
"Well, my condolences to him, but he must be arrested for destroying property. My men will join you tomorrow to catch him if he shows up again," Lin affirmed.
"I'll send my men to this site of yours to pick some evidence that will help us reach him. Let's hope he is not another denizen causing all that trouble as a protest for their lost properties during the destruction," she added.