Chapter Four: Upon the Open Sea

"Whose idea was it to not bring a damn Waterbender on this trip?" Korra said for what seemed like the millionth time. Two days had already passed but with only two people able to man the ship we weren't getting anywhere. By my calculations we had traveled probably fifty or sixty miles north of Kyoshi Island into Elven territory and the worst part was if we didn't dock soon we would start to starve, and Chi already said he would hunt me first if he needed dinner.

We were lost at sea; all we truly knew was that land was to the east of our position. Three Earth benders lost at sea really isn't a good thing when it comes right down to it. Chi was once again found lounging on Korra's lap as she ate her pitiful lunch. I sat down with them and pulled a small plate towards me and began to eat. I was so hungry it was like eating a turkey feast, yet it was only a small sandwich. "So are we going to dock soon, I'm tired of being hungry and not being able to bend." Korra said, with her mouth full of sandwich.

She gave some bits of her sandwich to Chi as she ate and I handed some of mine to him as well, it wasn't fair if she was the only one who had to share with him. I sighed and finally said, "There is a town nearby if I am correct, little village by the name of Hamming. We can dock, get supplies, and ask if anyone knows anything about the Water Cult. We will need more information on them if we are to track them down."

So we set our course for a small village just off the coast of Tarok. By looking at the map I'd guess it was a small outpost of a bigger town more in land by the name of Owahee. It only took a few hours to sail into the bay. We docked in what seemed to be a shopping district. I stepped foot on the wood and breathed in the air, it reminded me of home but then I remembered we were in Elven territory now. I had to be cautious.

We made our way to what we guessed was a general store. It had a huge sign with a boars head on it just outside its door. I opened the door and let Korra go in, better her get abducted than me. I laughed at my own joke and Korra gave me a strange look so I said, "I just thought of something funny, don't worry about it."

We walked around and grabbed up everything we thought we would need and made our way to the counter. The clerk gathered together everything and told us the amount, I handed him the money and decided better now than later, "Do you know anything of the Water Cult's whereabouts?" I asked.

He gave me a strange look; "Now why would little kids like you be looking for hardened criminals like them?" he talked with a slow deep voice.

"I only heard something about them and was wondering where they might be, that way I know I'm safe." I was quick to the trigger to come up with a decent lie. The man must have believed me because he gave me a hard look.

"Now ain't nobody safe with them benders down south. They think they own the waters them do, had a few fishing boats go down mysteriously a few months back and I know it was them." The man was starting to creep me out, he had a big eyed stare as he spoke, scruffy beard and dirty face. Looked like a pirate to me. We started to grab our stuff and turned to go when he said "Check the pub for anyone who might know something about them Water Cult boys." And we promptly exited his store.

We went back to the boat to deposit our stuff and I turned to Korra and Chi, "Do you think it's safe to go to that pub and ask around?"

"Look Keyx, I understand you're worried but we need that information as well, but a pub is no place for a cat, I'll leave you two to it. Remember; if anything happens don't come back here, just head for the hills." Chi laughed and went to sit on the table.

So we went off in search of the pub. It was an interesting affair, we had to stop to ask for directions a few times and one lady, an Elf, had even tried to give me a necklace, said it would make all my dreams come true, I didn't believe her and pushed her away.

We got to what had an outward appearance as an old fashioned tavern; I had seen a fair few on my way to Kyoshi Island. The place was loud with screams and bangs, it freaked me out a bit but we stepped inside. One look told me it was a bunch of crooks and thugs. There were chairs flying around the room, people passed out on the tables, women doing gods knows what off in the back. I looked around and saw a dark headed girl sitting at the bar just minding her own business so I decided it was a good start.

We walked over and sat down next to her, Korra giving me a look that clearly stated why are we doing this? The barkeep came up and said, "What will it be?" and I just waved him off, turning to this girl. She glanced at me and I saw that the color of her eyes were a blood red. "Why are you staring at me like that?" she sounded bored, wanting this night to end or something.

"I was hoping you could be of help to us, see we are looking for the Water Cult and don't have any idea where to start. Can you help us?"

She cocked a smile and I knew she was interested. "Why are you looking for them?"

"Personal reasons, are you willing to help us or not?" I didn't want to waste more time than I had too.

"Of course, I've been tracking them for several months now. I know their movements but I can't seem to pinpoint where they will go, tricky Waterbenders." She chuckled and took a sip of whatever she was drinking. She had long black hair that went down to her waist and was wearing a black t-shirt and black pants. She seemed to enjoy the color black

She got up, leaving some money next to her empty cup. She began to leave so we followed but a huge guy stopped us near the door, "Hey now pretty ladies, where do you think you're going?"

"Where do you get off being a jerk to my friends?" I asked, with an irritated tone.

"Back off pipsqueak, these fine ladies are mine." He went to pull the dark headed girl to him and she grabbed his arm and twisted it. He yelped in pain and she booted him in the face and then flipped him over with a twirl and put her foot to his neck, "Don't touch me freak." And with that she left the building

I was awestruck, and we followed her down the road. I caught up to her and said, "That was amazing, where did you learn that?"

She sighed and looked at me, "I have a place not far from here, we will talk more when we get there."

So we followed her into the heart of the city. We passed by venders and people who looked homeless. It was different than what I was used to on Kyoshi Island. There everyone was treated the same and there was no homeless but here it looked like if you weren't rich or had good contacts you were thrown to the wolves.

We made it to an apartment and she took out a key and unlocked the door, pushing it open. We went inside and looked around. It was kind of dingy, pots and pans strung around. The only place that was clean was a small table that looked like a memorial for someone. I went to look at the picture and she pushed it over, covering it.

"So, the Water Cult eh?" She looked at us.

I had a bad feeling by this time so I was staying by the door just in case we had to make a run for it. She gave us both weird looks them hit her forehead pretty hard with her hand, "Wow where are my manners?" she extended a hand to each of us and we took it and shook, "I'm Nya, and you must be the kid I've been hearing so much about, Keyx right?"

I just stood there looking dumb until Korra hit me on the head. "Uh yeah, how do you know my name?" I asked

"How do I not know your name? For the last few months the only name that has spread around the benders was Keyx. The new Avatar, the only hope. They say many things about you boy. Are you really up to the task of saving this dying world from those dreaded Elves?"

"They killed my parents, I am up for anything, I just need to train. I fought a Firebender in an Agni Kai and couldn't Firebend worth nothing, so I have to train some more before even thinking about going up against the Elves." I didn't know why, but I just felt like I could go ahead and open up to her, she had that sort of aura to her.

We sat for a few hours conversing with her and she told us all about the Water Cult. Apparently their leader, Dano, had a run in with the Royal family in the Royal City. Ended up blinding the king's only son with a technique that no one knew how to use and now the king personally wants them dead. This Dano was kind of starting to scare me a little.

Nya explained that she had been taken as a little girl by the Elves, who knew her family were Firebenders and they trained her to be a strong force in the war but when they imprisoned her mother, Nya turned on them. She has been on the run for the past two years.

"Well, you could come with us, I mean, we are after the king eventually, we could rescue your mother." Korra told her, a soft look in her eye. She understood what it was like to have parents lost in the war in some form or another.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that, get away from the daily grind in this rat hole, but there is one thing, what do you plan on doing once you find the Water Cult?" She asked with an interesting look on her face.

"Exactly what Granny Beifong told us to do, find the amulet of Avatar Korra's and talk to her on the day of the solstice. It's all we can do." I answered. Then I got up and went for the picture, she didn't stop me this time and I saw it was a young girl in the arms of an older gentleman who was also holding a beautiful woman that looked just like Nya. It was a family photo. The man was handsome, with good looks like he had lived a wonderful life with the woman in his arms. He had long dark hair, and a few burn marks here and there on his face. "What happened to your dad?" I didn't really wanna know the answer, because I was expecting it already.

"He fought to defend my mother, they killed him instantly. I'll never forgive them." Nya took the picture from my hands, tears in her eyes.

I looked over to Korra and she was sympathetically looking at Nya. I motioned her outside and we left the room. "I just thought she would need time to get ready to go."

Just then Korra pointed out into the ocean, which we had a clear view of for miles. A few Elven warships were racing along towards the island. Just then we heard a huge bang to the south of our position. We turned and a smoke cloud was billowing up from the edge of the tavern we had just been at.

We glanced at each other and the door burst open, Nya stood with a hastily packed backpack and looked at us, "What was that!" she yelled, and we pointed to the smoke, her face turned chalk white when she looked over, "They are here for me, I knew this was too good to last. We have to get going." we pointed to the fleet of warships and she just stood looking in awe.

I had a wild idea and ran down to the street, Korra reluctantly following me and Nya right after her. I kept running till I saw the dock in my sights and headed for it, but a cannonball hit down hard to the right of us, exploding and launching us into a building to our right.

I stood up and all I felt was white hot pain, it felt like my leg was broken but I couldn't be sure. I tried to stand, luckily I was able too so that meant my leg was fine for the moment. I was blinded for the moment but thanks to Chi that didn't matter, I could feel a lot of people moving along in front of me, not sure if they were enemies or civilians but I wasn't going to take a chance, I bolted from the spot.

We had to make it back to the ship and leave somehow but as Earthbenders I wasn't sure that was even possible. My vision cleared and Korra was still right behind me, holding up Nya who had blood trickling down her left arm. I stopped short and ran back to help.

"We have to get out of here but how?" Korra looked scared, I had never seen her look so frightened, even when she knew she was leaving her grandmother to her death.

"I don't know, but I have an idea. Remember those old stories about Avatar Aang, how he stowed away from the Fire Nation troops by using their boats. I think we need to commandeer an Elven ship." It was a suicidal idea, but at that moment we had nothing else.

So we made for our ship immediately and when we got safely on board we found Chi at the bow watching the invading fleet. When we got to him he immediately inquired about Nya. "We found her at the tavern and she..." I started spouting off but Chi silenced me.

"Why is she wounded is what I wanted to know. She's bleeding profoundly and needs some attention." Chi uttered, then quickly ran for the medical box we kept on the side of the cabin.

"Chi, we need to commandeer an enemy ship, any ideas on how to do that?" I asked, looking worried.

He came back with some medical supplies and told Korra to fix Nya up, then looked to me and said, "Thinking like Avatar Aang's friends now, well there might be a way, let me cover it, go get your stuff." he strutted off down to the streets of Hamming and mixed into the mass chaos that filled the streets.

Korra had gotten Nya all patched up so I decided we needed to hurry up and catch up to Chi. We ran down to the bedrooms and grabbed all our stuff and we were off, into the mass chaos chasing a calico cat.

It didn't take long to find him, after winding through some city folk and passing a few unfriendly looking Elves we saw him beside a building. We caught up just in time for me to ask "What's this grand scheme of yours Chi?"

Chi smirked and pointed to a few Elven officers nearby, "I overheard them talking about finding a girl named Nya and I presume that's this one," he pointed to Nya and we shook our heads yes, "so I figured we could take them out and take their boat. Simple enough if you think about it."

It was simple in theory but of course when we went ahead with it, there was a few minor problems. First minor problem, Nya went right on the attack and that meant she used her bad arm to try to Firebend. She produced enough fire to burn down a mansion, but the bad thing was she had to bend her arm inwards from pain so the majority of the fire blasted us and the buildings around us. Second minor problem, the Elves were tougher and more highly numbered than we expected. As soon as Nya's attack backfired the Elves realized who she was, and that the Avatar was with her and then they yelled both of those to their comrades. Final minor problem, we were standing on wood over the sea. Earth bending was, at the moment, out of the question.

I was at a loss for ideas. The Elves were closing in and Nya was still holding her arm in pain, so I looked to Chi, "What now Mr. Brainiac!"

Chi just ignored me and we got into circle formation as the Elves pinned us down. "Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little annoying girl and the Avatar. We are lucky boys" a smug Elf who looked like the leader said to his comrades.

That got me angry. I didn't like feeling like a caged animal, it's what had made me escape the ship prison fifty years ago. I remember it fondly. The same feeling arose in me as they were closing in on us, a fearful, scared feeling.

It happened so fast that I wasn't even sure what was going on. One of the Elves closest to me made a grab for Korra and my mind went blank. I blacked out and all I could feel was rage and pain. I didn't want them touching Korra or any of my friends. My mind cleared and I could see again and I was breathing hard with Korra holding my shoulders. She was so close she might have just kissed me but I figured she would've rather been caught by the Elves than kiss me. She looked scared and worried. I looked around and saw bodies littered everywhere, the Elves that had just threatened us.

I began to ask what happened but I stopped myself and remembered some of the old stories I had read about past Avatars. Aang had done somewhat of the same thing at the Northern Water Tribe when defending it from the Fire Nation. Even Avatar Kyoshi and Avatar Korra had noted experiences when they lost control of themselves. I looked around once again at what I had done and at the scared looks on my friends faces so I said, "I'm sorry, I don't need an explanation as to what just happened, I've experienced it before. Let's just take this ship and be on our way shall we?"

Everyone looked worried so I just walked towards the ship. I was ashamed but proud at the same time. Of course I wanted to know what I had done, but I would ask later when we were on our way to finding the Water Cult. I boarded a nearby ship and my friends followed.

It took maybe ten minutes but we got the ship up and running. I was manning the wheel and we got it turned around and going north. Nya had followed me, "Last I heard the Water Cult was spotted up near the ruins of Republic City. They probably moved on by now but I bet you anything we can find some traces of them."

So we set course for Republic City, the once proud city founded by Avatar Aang. Once again we were upon the open sea but this time we had a measurable amount of earth blocks on board the ship and a Firebender to boot. I was feeling like nothing could stop us as we sailed north.

That night we gathered around a fire as we set anchor near a cliff that shaded us from view. Korra was looking happy as Chi nestled into his favorite spot on her lap. Even Nya had gotten better after her accident in Hamming. She said her arm still bothered her a little but mostly the pain was gone. I felt content that we had made it out alive so I posed the one question that had been on my mind all day, "What did I do after I blacked out?"

"Well the Elf went to grab Korra and you started to glow. Then you went into complete ninja mode and shot huge streams of fire at the oncoming Elves. You blasted down twenty with one swipe. Probably would have kept going if not for Korra, she grabbed you and whispered in your ear. Whatever she said must have calmed you down because the glow vanished and you seemed to be yourself again. She won't tell anyone what she said." Nya explained, her mouth full of sandwich.

I looked over at Korra and I had the faintest idea of what she had said to me but I was too embarrassed to speak it out loud. That's when Korra asked the hardest question she had asked me yet, "So, you never told me, how did you end up on that beach back on Kyoshi Island?"

I couldn't meet her eyes. The pain had been gnawing at me since I had awoken on the beach in the first place. I was to blame for the war, just like Avatar Aang's disappearance. I finally took a deep breath and said, "They had me captured, bandits of the Royal Guard. I was trapped at sea, a young boy being hunted by a crazed king. I was scared, alone and afraid. I knew my own death was coming. I cried in that darkness as I felt the waves underneath me, wishing I was back in my warm bed being read to sleep by my mother. That's when the same feeling came to me that I had back in Hamming. A great anger, pain and fear all mixed together. Then a bright light, then darkness again. That's when I dreamt of my childhood, I guess it's because that's where I wanted to be at that moment in time. I awoke on the beach staring at you Korra." I was crying again, but I wasn't ashamed. They were my friends and we faced more ahead of us than either of us could imagine. We just needed to find the Water Cult and get the amulet. I drifted off to sleep, staring into the fire and thinking about that dream that led me to where I am now, hoping it had some connections to why I had hibernated for fifty years. Maybe the Summer Solstice held the answers I wanted, that is if I lived long enough to see it.