Chapter 3:

Shayni jumped up on air, then crashed back down, sending a shockwave throughout the Dai Li, which had encircled him, and Lou. "We can't kill all of these people!" the Airbender yelled, "But we can kill as many as possible!" Yelled the Waterbender in return. With a quick nod, Shayin teleported in the middle of the Dai Li agents and sliced through the air, chopping a dozen Dai Li in half. Lou gathered water, solidified it, then threw three dozen icicles at their enemies, killing about the same amount that Shayin had killed. But still more poured in from the city streets. "There's no end to them! We can't win this!" Yelled Shayin, but just as he said that, an earth dome formed over the duo, encasing them in darkness.

Earthbending a dome around the Airbender and Waterbender, Shai jumped from the rooftop from where he stood and broke a small circle in the top of it, and jumped down to where the Waterbender and Airbender were, confused at the rapid turn of events. "I'm here to help." Shai said as to the duo, right before he started to Earthbend. Shai would send shockwaves to the Dai Li, then break apart the earth dome and send the shards to the Earthbenders, impaling them. Through an elaborate amount of Earthbending, Shai broke the dome, sent spikes of earth impaling the Dai Li, and then used the remaining shards to kill the rest. However, there was still a Dai Li agent standing after the onslaught of stone and rock. Picking up a rock, Shai then sheared it so that it was sharp as a sword, then killed the Dai Li soldier.

The Airbender and Waterbender then looked at Shai, amazed, and the Waterbender said to him, "My name is Lou, Chief of the Northern Water Tribe, and this is my friend, Shayin, Airbender and student of Avatar Aang. That was some amazing bending." Shai then nodded his approval and said, "My name's Shai. Just learned bending today, so not all that used to the ability." The Airbender, Shayin, eyes widened, and exclaimed, "What! You just learned Earthbending today? But you're my age, what, 20?"

"Like I said, I just learned it today. Why were the Dai Li after you?" Asked Shai, to which Lou replied, "We don't know. We had just arrived in Ba Sing Se when they attacked us. How about you?"

"My teacher, my father, the one who taught me swordsmanship and Earthbending, was Long Feng." With the surprised looks at their faces, Shai motioned for them to follow him, and they quickly settled down at a tavern table. Shai then told them of what had transpired today, from his duel with Long Feng and then of his discovery of being an Earthbender. When Shai had finished, Lou and Shayin whispered to one-another, in voices too low Shai couldn't hear. When they had finished, Shayin said to Shai, "Before me and Lou had left the North Pole, the Avatar told us that he had a vision that we would meet a powerful Earthbender, one who was also a great swordsman. We wish to end the acts of the Dai Li and discover their leader, so that we may end him. We believe that you are the powerful bender Aang spoke of. Will you-" But before the Airbender could finish, Shai said, "I already know what you're gonna say. I'm in. I will punish the Dai Li for what they have done. But we cannot stay in the Earth Kingdom, the Dai Li probably has spies watching us." And then Lou spoke, saying, "I already figured it out. We can go to Ember Island, where the Dai Li will least expect it. An airship ride will leave first thing at midnight for the southern Earth Kingdom. From there we can take a ship, headed for the Fire Nation." With a quick nod, they left for the airship port, where the vessel was scheduled to leave.