Chapter 03

Preparing for Departure

"So what happened last night?" Zhuang asked Tu as they were walking in a nearby field. The sun has risen several hours ago, and they had already eaten breakfast. Satou had business to take care of, so the two benders were left to their own devices. Tu had decided this would be a good time to spar, so here they were.

"We walked, talked. She was fun and interesting, but ultimately not my type."

"Uh-huh."

A moment of silence followed, then Tu conceded. "Her boyfriend showed up. Tried to pick a fight with me. He wasn't a bender."

"You looked that smug because you beat up a nonbender? It's things like that that'll give those Neo Equalists the support they need to..." He stopped, realizing he was wasting his breath. "How badly did you beat him?"

"Oh, not too bad. He was smart and gave up when he saw me bend a rock the size of his head out of the ground. After that we had a nice discussion about how jealousy is the root of all evil in the world and his friend invited me to show off some of my moves."

"Heh." They continued on for another minute, then stopped. "Yeah, this will be good. You ready?"

Tu walked a few steps away then turned around. "Don't go crazy with that fire of yours," he quipped, then nodded. "Ready when you are."

"Good." Zhuang started off the match with a few small fireballs, which were quickly blocked by a small wall of earth. Zhuang immediately ran toward the wall, dodging pillars before jumping on its sloping surface to jump over and give Tu a good cooking. However, his blast of hot air hit nothing, as Tu had bended his way underground, leaving an obvious hole in the process.

Zhuang stopped, cursing, as a pair of rock hands rose up out of the ground to grab him. He didn't manage to dodge it, meaning his hands were stuck to his sides, eliminating his ability to bend.

Tu popped up out of the ground half a minute later. "What, I actually got you with that?"

Zhuang said nothing. Tu stomped on the ground, freeing him, and they took their places for round two. This time Tu started things off with an aggressive wall of dirt. Zhuang dodged to the left as it approached, rushing toward Tu who took a bending step back, raising a bit of rock to trip Zhuang. Zhuang side stepped it, sending a small bit of fire Tu's way.

Tu once again blocked it with a wall of earth, but Zhuang was already running around it, sending more fire toward Tu and forcing the earthbender to remain on the defensive. He was eventually running ever tighter circles, slowing down just enough to perform bending movements to send more fire at Tu before going into a sprint again.

Finally, Zhuang jumped on top of the earth half-sphere Tu had made for himself, forcing his hands down a hole mistakenly left at the top, and sending a small puff of flame down, barely setting the tip of some of Tu's hairs on fire.

Jumping down, Zhuang watched as Tu sent that dirt and rock back into the ground properly, admitting defeat while patting down his head. It was a rule they had: if Zhuang could have done serious harm but didn't, the victory was still his. Fire was a dangerous tool, so they both agreed to sensible precautions.

"Did you really have to get some of my hair?" Tu complained while they set up for the tie breaking round 3.

Before they could begin, though, they heard her voice. "Good to see you boys got some skill!" Tu immediately groaned, while Zhuang relaxed and started walking over to her. "Good to see you, Zhuang."

"Good to see you too, Fei Yen."

Fei Yen was younger than both Zhuang and Tu, having lived only 15 years thus far. Her skin was a little darker than the two boys despite their long days out in the fields, having been born with the skin tone. Her hair was black and long, but her eyes were a light brown.

Tu walked over, looking hesitant, but Fei Yen didn't take any notice. "We just got back about an hour ago. Daddy said you were likely out here, so I came looking and watched you kick Tu's butt."

"He won the first round," Zhuang admitted, not wanting his friend to look completely bad.

Fei Yen giggled, then waved at the silent Tu that had finally finished his slow walk over. Tu waved back, smiling a bit.

"Now that I've found you two," she said, surprising them both by the seriousness of her voice, "we need to get back to the house. Dad's changed his plans because of what's going on, and we're going to be leaving first thing in the morning instead. He wants to talk to us about something before we get to bed tonight."

Zhuang looked up at the sky. "It's only about an hour or so after noon. Do we really need to rush?"

"Yes," she answered, sharply. So, leaving things at a tie, the two boys followed Fei Yen back to her house. "You both stink."


All five of them were gathered around the table in the main room. They had just finished eating, and were now ready to get down to business.

"Since Fei Yen has already told you, I'm going to tell you why," Souta began, drinking some tea to collect his thoughts. "It seems that the Earth King's agents in Omashu has labeled this town as the hotbed they have been looking for, and will be locking this town down in the next couple of days. From what I've been told, a huge platoon of the Earth Army is already on its way, bringing tanks and all kinds of advanced weaponry imported from the Fire Nation.

"We want to get you three out of here before they get here - there will be too many questions asked otherwise, and I'm not the best of liars." He sighed when everyone grinned, each with their own memories of his less than stellar track record in that regard. "For now we'll stick to this story if we get caught on the road by any patrols.

"Zhuang, you and Tu are young bodyguards I've hired to protect me from bandits that can bend. My daughter's a pretty good bender, but she hasn't developed the skill for fighting like you two."

"Sounds reasonable," Zhuang said. "Though they'll ask why you feel the need for that with all the soldiers that are going to be around."

"Call it an old man's need to feel safe," Souta answered. "I'll even give you a little money so you can show them 'payment in advance' if they get too suspicious."

"This one is certainly better than some of your other schemes," Dao-ming chimed in, earning a laugh from her husband. Her dark blue eyes shined with amusement when he tried to come up with a retort but failed, instead opting to focus on the business at hand.

"We're going to be bringing more than just my vegetables with us, too. Fei Yen is going to show you two some books I want packed in. Hidden in those books is a collection of messages from all over the coast that Cheng needs to see - they've really been pouring in these last few days."

"I didn't realize Sons of Earth were all over the coast," Zhuang commented.

"Well, there were several groups that had grown fed up with Ba Sing Se's nonsense. We were the largest and most organized, so over time they have agreed to operate under our banner. We even have limited support from those desert dwellers over in the east."

This gave Zhuang some food for thought. What would happen if it actually came to full blown rebellion and they won?He couldn't imagine the entire Earth Kingdom realigning under their leadership, and he couldn't imagine Cheng or anyone in the Sons of Earth wanting to rule this entire continent. Would the Earth Kingdom end up being split into a dozen smaller countries? He could imagine Ba Sing Se being a nation in itself if it was as big as people and maps made it out to be. He would have to ask Fei Yen about that once they were on the road.

"We'll be leaving before dawn. Everyone should eat only a light supper, then it's off to bed early."

With that in agreement, Dao-ming went off to the kitchen to do the dishes, Souta went out to pick up some last minute supplies, and the three teenagers went to the guest room to catch up. Tu seemed to have gotten over his fear of Fei Yen's "insanity" and was much more talkative for the rest of the day.