Moons: Bit of a rushed chapter. On the bright side, I got it in a few days before my deadline.

Megan: Long story short: It's about midnight and she has nothing better to do. XD

Disclaimer: I dont' own Avatar: The Last Airbender in anyway! I did however create Tai Ming and my friend made Megan. Steal ether of them, and you will be attacked by mutated Kirbys.

Previously on The Tale of Tai Ming:

"Tai Ming!" Professor Zei yelled rushing to her. He kneeled beside her as she opened her eyes up.

"Professor Zei?" She said, "You didn't tell me you had a twin."

"Agni! She's delusional!" He held up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"That's such a stupid question." Tai Ming replied, "I can see you're clearly holding up five."

"Yep, delusional."

Many weeks after that…

"Whoa!" Tai Ming flung up from the floor. She still cringed at that memory of one of her first expert-level sandbending attempts. Also, she still remembered the eclipse. It was beautiful. More beautiful than Sozin's comet that they had all went up to see once. She and the professor still argued over which was more beautiful.

She had just woken up from a dream-flashback about that scene; back then when she couldn't control her bending as well. She could still swear Professor Zei was holding up five fingers though.

On of the brown foxes came up to her side and whined. She sighed, "Ok, ok…" She lifted her hand and gave the fox a good scratch behind it's ears. The fox smiled pleasantly at the comfort she gave it.

It was about the that time that Tai Ming realized she was flat on the floor. "All man…" She moaned, "I fell asleep on the floor again." She stopped scratching the fox to get up and do a few quick hand motions to bend the sand out of her sleeves. "Man, I have got to stop falling asleep right after a bending practice."

The fox batted at her lag with it's paw and Tai Ming knowing well what it wanted picked it up. The fox climbed up onto her shoulders and laid there like a lemur.

She and the fox knew each other well. It had taken awhile, but Tai Ming realized that it was the fox she had met in the desert. She grinned as she thought of what she called good luck. If the fox and her had never met, she would be stuck in the desert until someone like Ghashiun or Sha-Mo had found her and bought her back to that stupid desert she had grown up in.

A flap of wings was heard behind them. Tai Ming turned around, "Good morning Won Shi Tong."

"I'm afraid it's not a good morning." The owl said, "I need you downstairs, bottom floor. It's an emergency!" With those words Won Shi Tong spread his wings again and flew down.

Tai Ming quickly followed by punching her fists into the wall and pulling out a pair of rock gloves on her fists leaving the wall undamaged. She then used the rock gloves to slide down the wall. The fox leaped off in time to jump onto the wall and run downwards beside Tai Ming.

After various leaps from wall to wall, they landed on the bottom floor. They both rushed over to a crowd surrounding something. The various foxes cleared reveling the one laying on the floor.

"Oh sh-t! this looks bad." Tai Ming said when she got a close look. The fox was barely moving, with strong, steady breathing. A huge gash was in it's side around the ribcage. There were black marks of dried blood and burn marks around the cut.

Tai Ming looked up at the great owl. "Do you know what happened?"

"I sent this fox on a mission to get a book for the library." He replied, "He returned in this condition, empty-handing and badly injured. This mission is apparently too dangerous for a fox." He turned his owl-head from the fox to Tai Ming. "This is what I need you for."

"What!?"

"You have mastered earthbending, correct? This makes you more powerful than my knowledge seekers. You can fight back and get items so rare, my foxes can't even get close enough to see it. Tai Ming, I need you to do this mission for me. Go get this book and bring it back to me."

"What!?" Both Professor Zei and Tai Ming screamed.

"Your foxy friend just got it's a-s handed to him, and now you want me to take his place!?"

"Tai Ming's still a kid for Agni's sake! You're going to send her out there!?"

Wong Shi Tong sighed, "The deal was that Tai Ming does work for the library. She goes out and gets the book. If she refuses, she breaks the deal and dies. Simple as that."

"That's not simple! The only thing simple about it is the fact that it's blackmail!" Zei shouted, "Also, I don't recall go-risk-your-life-for-a-book part of the deal! She's still a child!"

"Professor?"

"Yeah Tai Ming?"

"Shut your trap." Professor Zei was surprised by this, but let Tai Ming continue. "You keep saying I'm a little kid, but I'm not. Incase you haven't noticed, I'm an earthbending master now. I'm not that stupid sandbender who got lucky anymore. If 'He Who Knows Ten Thousand Things' thinks I'm ready, I know I am."

Tai Ming had her supplies all packed in a sack. She had spare clothes, food, medicine, and a small map of the world.

"Are-"

Tai Ming groaned at the sound of Professor Zei's voice and quickly said, "Yes, I'm sure I want to do this. Yep, I have everything I need. No, I'm not changing my mind. And yes, your questions are annoying the crud out of me."

Zei shrugged and said, "Actually, I was wondering about how you will feel about going back to that village. The one you grew up in. You'll see some familiar faces, including maybe your parents."

Tai Ming's footsteps drew to a halt. Without turning around she admitted, "I don't even remember what my parents looked like. When I try to remember them, I see people being around me all the time, but they have no faces." She continued walking, "As of now, I don't care if anyone I ever met is still there."

"Do you have everything?" Won Shi Tong asked. Tai Ming nodded. "A couple of my knowledge seekers will stay with you at all time, to make sure you don't mention the library. If you do, they will attack on the spot. And don't underestimate them."

"That's reasonable." She said as two knowledge seekers walked up. On of them instantly got up onto her shoulders. It was the one who was with her all the time, the one she had rescued.

"The book you are getting is quite rare, actually. An autobiography written by Firelord Sozin. It is within a chamber not far from the Fire Nation palace. The knowledge seekers will guide you there. While you are outside, avoid eye contact with anyone. Don't dare show them your face. Don't speak unless necessary. Good luck."

Her fists flung into the wall as she climbed to the surface. After going through some of the tough quicksand, she made it out into the desert. "Now we walk." She told the fox leading the way. The other one rested on her shoulder as she followed.

Moons: Ok people, next chapter should be up by at least next week. Remember, reviewers get a bottle of soda pop!