The Farewell

My father and uncle had a bakery and a restaurant respectively back in Naples, so I grew up in that kind of environment. I spent my childhood and teenage years baking and cooking to support them, as our family was always very close. Also, having dropped out of school, it was a way to support myself while practicing boxing in an amateur way.

That was how I acquired detailed knowledge about baking breads, desserts and preparing pizzas and typical dishes.

So, when I stopped breastfeeding and was forced to eat the real food of this world, I realized that this was not going to be my thing. The food was too Asian for my Mediterranean taste. I mean, it's okay to eat Chinese food once in a while, but always? No, no thanks.

Then, when I had the opportunity, even before I decided to fight again, I started making my first bread and then my first pasta. That's how I started this journey to where I am now.

"Big brother, big brother!"

A little voice interrupted my thoughts, forcing me to turn my gaze downward.

"Could you help me with this, big brother?"

A little girl with her black hair pulled back approached, holding a couple of papers and a pencil.

"Ah, Samira, it was you, you almost scared me to death!"

I brought a hand to my chest, dramatically exaggerating the shortness of breath.

"Hahaha! But you're not scared of anything, big brother."

I lifted her onto one of my thighs, smiling.

"I won't deny it, you're right. With these awesome arms, there's nothing to scare me."

I raised my free arm, showing off my muscles.

"You're the strongest, big brother!"

I nodded matter-of-factly, but suddenly my mood dropped.

"There's something that makes my hair stand on end, though..."

I looked at her in surprise and she flinched.

"W-what is it, big brother?"

Her voice trembled as she clutched at her papers and my clothes.

"The Queen's tax collectors!"

I covered my mouth, pretending to hold back a scream of horror.

"But, big brother! Hahaha, that's not scary!"

"Don't laugh, you'll understand when you're older, believe me. Anyway, what is it this time?"

She was Samira, my younger sister and the youngest in our family. She always introduced herself as "Samira Bonaventura," a name I had given her instead of our parents.

"Language! I'm not sure if I wrote these correctly..."

Despite not having completed middle school and not being a native English speaker, I was proud of my knowledge. So, I smoothly helped with the homework given to him by his tutor.

However.

"By the way, now that I won't be here, you could ask Ji-won for help; I'm sure she would love to help you."

"Understood, thank you, big brother!"

I patted her head and, before letting her go, asked her a question.

"Hey, little girl, have you seen Yaoyao?"

Samira closed her eyes tenderly, as if in thought.

"I heard a loud noise before you arrived, big brother! Maybe he went for a ride on your motorcycle."

I nodded and stroked her one last time, I got an idea where he had gone.

....

"Hey, how did this turn on, Yaoyao?"

"This is better and faster than a bicycle, isn't it? Wow, I wish I had one, although I wish I had a bicycle too."

"Yaoyao, your big brother is really loaded, come on, do the same trick as last time! What did you call it...? Ah, yes, wheelie!"

"All right, all right. I'm going to impress you guys, okay? Since my idiot brother moved to the middle ring and left his old motorcycle behind, I've been practicing more."

There they were, Yaoyao and his group of friends, staring in awe at the first motorcycle I bought in this world. It was an inefficient gas guzzling model, stopped randomly in the middle of the street and was clearly not designed for the streets of the lower ring of the Earth Kingdom.

"Hey there, guys! Admiring the beauty of that clunker, eh?"

Suddenly, I burst in with a wave of my hand and a football ball under one of my feet.

"Oh, it's Lorenzo!"

Quickly the three boys approached me, except Yaoyao, who remained in place with a frown letting out a "tsk" audible enough for me. The boys looked at me with interest and then at the ball under my foot.

"Want to play, boys?"

They nodded instantly with enthusiasm.

"Okay, here you go. I'll catch up with you in a bit, I want to talk to my little brother first."

With a gesture, I handed them the ball and they set out to play.

"Okay!"

"Let's go!"

"Don't be late, Lorenzo!"

It was just my brother and I. He was the first to speak.

"Ah, you're still here? I thought you had already left."

Yaoyao leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, him looking at me with his typical defiant eyes.

"I came to see if you weren't up to something like last time. I won't be here to get you out of the dungeon, you know."

He just laughed and smiled bitterly.

"Just so you remember, I never needed your help. I attacked that guy because I wanted to be in the dungeons."

I closed my eyes and rubbed my forehead. I remembered how Yaoyao had assaulted a man in a government building to be imprisoned and cause a riot along with the other prisoners.

"Still with the delusional idea of organizing a revolution against the Queen? Hahh, you're going to give me gray hair..."

It was frankly infuriating the stubbornness of this guy.

I didn't disagree with his ideas, I didn't really care, but he was constantly getting into trouble to "destabilize" the monarchy, and that did worry me. Not because of maintaining an image, but because he was my brother.

"Is that all? You can go play, I won't stop you."

I went from being the youngest brother of five children to being the oldest of three. And if there was one thing I remember well from my childhood, it was how my older brother, Luca, protected us from anything that could put us in danger. I have been following the example I chose from Luca.

"All right, all right, I'll be on my way. However, Yaoyao, my little brother, if you get into trouble while I'm not here, the ones who will suffer the most will be our parents. Don't forget that."

I sighed and opened my arms wide, regaining my usual expression.

"Let's put that issue aside and say goodbye properly, don't you think?"

Without giving him a choice, I threw myself at him and hugged him tightly.

"Ah! What are you doing, I'm not 6 years old anymore!"

He tried to struggle and hit my back to get free, but he couldn't, I was stronger.

"Don't do anything too crazy."

Yaoyao finally gave in and hugged me back.

"Alright, alright. Yes, I'll try but not for you, but for mom and dad."

"Fair enough! Besides, the motorcycle is all yours now."

So, after hugging him for quite a while, I went to play a little football with the kids in the lower ring. It was a sport I had introduced in my childhood with a little cloth ball made out of old clothes. I had bigger plans for that, but it wasn't time yet.

The next day, the lower and middle ring citizens organized a farewell for me in the form of a festival, with lots of food and drink. My restaurants were crowded with people not only from Ba Sing Se, but also people from other parts of the Earth Kingdom who came to see me off.

Then, I said goodbye to my parents and left for Republic City.