I had been searching the area we had been in for over an hour. All thrills at the new experience of flying my glider in the night-time sky had been replaced a while ago with worry. Who knew what dangers this beautiful world above ground might hide? There could be some sort of animal that could eat her. Apala had only been given to me a couple months ago-this was really bad. To be given a sky bison was a heck of an honor-I'd be chewed out when I got back. Furthermore, Condor and mine's twosome had so easily become a threesome with Apala, it felt empty without the little girl.

A thought occurred to me, and I folded and angled one of the wings of my glider slightly, making for a faster turn as I headed east. The quiet, cool air of the desert enfolded around me, and for a moment, I once again was amazed at how it felt on my skin, through my hair. The absolute open-ness and freshness of it. Intoxicating, really.

It was a few minutes before I reached my destination, and dropped onto the sand in front of the village, the air softly whooshing behind me as I carefully folded my glider into it's staff shape.

"Apala?" I called in a whisper, sending the air to carry my words farther. I waited. But there was no answering whistle of air to return to me. I whispered a quick prayer, and surprisingly, the air sprang to me in response. I followed the push of the soft gush of air pressing on my back, as it pressed me around the village, stopping in the middle of a road. I looked around, puzzled, until the wind practically pressed my nose to the ground, unbidden. I scrambled, using air to gain my balance again, and then looked again, a bit crabby but knowing better than to snap out.

There it was-clear as day. Baby air bison prints everywhere-skidding everywhere, along with strange tracks. There had been a struggle of some sort. Rage much unlike the monks of old bled red behind my eyes. Or even the air monks of today-but I was not just an air bender, hadn't been since I had been bonded Condor and assigned to be trained a warrior. Not that my people weren't safe-it was just in case. The monks of old had learned from their old mistakes, and accepted the new proposal the dragons gave them.

But that didn't matter at this point. I surveyed the scene with critical eyes, aware of the intense energy in the air. After a few minutes of staring, I realized that Apala had not escaped-and the tracks fading out towards the south-the strange, parallel lines, coupled with odd prints I had never seen before, must've been what had taken her. I clicked open my glider.

"Now, now, hang on girly. You're an airbender, aren't you?"

I froze, then realized my tension and force-ably relaxed, turning around to meet the gaze of an old woman, hunched over with age.

"It's just a toy." I stated, clicking it shut.

"Don't intend to fool an old woman. Plenty of us saw the Avatar flying out on his glider in the days of the war. I know what that is."

"Doesn't mean-

"I saw you fly in on it. You oughta be more careful if you intend to keep your secret."

That clamped my mouth shut.

"I bet you're hungry. Come, I have food."

Warning bells went off in my head.

"I'm really rather busy at the moment."

"And I'm sure you'd also like to hear where your sky bison went. And as I'm the only one who's going to tell you, you best come along."

I stared at her suspiciously. "Very unlike the Avatar's bison-his is bigger, and white. Yours is mostly black all over, is he not?"

"She," I corrected without thinking. Then came the urge to slap myself.

An old, gnarled hand surprising in strength wrapped around my wrist. I gauged the strength, and then sighed. I could get away at anytime if I needed to. I snapped my glider shut in resignation, and the woman smiled and led me off. Condor was going to kill me, though. He would roast my hide and then ressurect me only to do it again. First for sneaking off to search without him, and then again for following a stranger's house. And possibly a third time, only because he was angry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~AVATAR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The old woman led me to her 'hut', as she called it when I asked. She brought out a large salad, and then began talking as we both ate. I began to ease up as I learned more about her, such as her name (Ling), and how she had three grandchildren and had grown up in the earth kingdom. She dodged my questions about Apala, frustratingly, though. I kept my lips tight about where I was from, usually answering in a general sense, such as "From west of here". Finally, realizing she may just be a curious woman looking for company, I stood up.

"Thank you for the food-I must be going now." I excused, reaching for my staff. The old woman's eyes crinkled more.

"No, you must stay."

"I really did have a nice time, but there's someone waiting for me, I really must-

"No!" The candles in the room flared. A sense of warning went up my spine, and I realized. She wasn't an earth kingdom woman at all-

"Sorry deary, you must stay here." She said, a mad gleam in her eye. "You must stay here until they get here."

Wish a whoosh of air, my glider ripped itself from the wall and slammed itself into my hand.

"They?" I asked, warily backing up.

"The rest of the Ressurection of the Phoenix Order. The Fire Nation will rise once again to greatness! And the Avatar destroyed! And the only way to make sure of that, deary, is to completely break the cycle. And right now, you and your family, wherever they are, are the only ones besides the avatar standing the way!"

Flames were beginning to encircle the hut, cutting off my escape.

"You're crazy." I spat, trying to cover up the fear I felt. An old, non-bending woman wouldn't be a problem to escape from. But a bender with many years of experience compared to my measley fifteen, was a much different matter.

"It is only those that are thought crazy that are brought into greatness."

I sent out a rather desperate cry for Condor, who rose, snarling and snapping from his place in the desert, shaking off the sleepiness and taking off, using the link between us as a guide.

"What about my bison?" I snapped, trying to distract her.

"Your bison was taken away by a fire nation collector. Probably straight to the palace-for that imposter of a fire lord. But you'll never get there, will you?" she said nastily, baring yellow rotten teeth. I wondered how I could have ever thought of her as sweet.

"Now, tell me where the others are!" She snarled, and a huge blast of fire ripped its way towards me. I leapt to the side, only to have to jump again, another fireball slamming its way past me and causing an explosion in the hut. And an exit for me, as the cool air of the night contrasted with the uncomfortably boiling air of the hut.

I scrambled backwards toward the opening, only to have agonizing pain rip across my back, almost sending me unconsious. Blearily, pressed on only by adrenaline, I found my way to my shaky feet again, turning towards the outside. A feeling of hopelessness grabbed hold of me as I saw six other tall, strong looking figures in the dark weilding fire at their fingertips. Seven experienced fire benders circled around me, the old woman who had charaded as 'Ling' at my back. I snapped open my suddenly flimsy, burn-able looking glider. If I tried to take off, they'd burn me to the ground. There was no way around them. Suddenly trapped, a primal fear seized me. In a sudden spasm of movement, my feet found the steps, air swirled around me, and I whipped my glider around. All seven figures flew off away from me, slamming into various objects or houses. But they came up, way too fast. Far more experienced than I, obviously. Heat seared my arm, and I looked down to see it burning, my sleeve caught on fire. Realization came to me-I had to MOVE. Faster than any of my training exercises had ever taught me. I had to escape, because I wasn't strong enough to face them and survive or avoid being captured. I crouched, tensing my legs to push off into the sky with my glider.

A deep snarl shook the ground and sent shivers up my spine. A white, snarling, glittering mass plunged from the moonlit sky, his form quaking in anger as he landed beside me, a wing camped over me as a female dragon would a hatchling. His massive body twisted impossibly fast on the ground, the now terrified fire benders barely leaping out of reach of his deadly teeth. I stayed where I was, understanding that the only reason those fire benders lived was because I stayed put. His rath had no end, it seemed. It terrified me-he looked so unlike the kind, sarcastic spirit I had raised from a hatchling.

One form stayed put as well, despite my dragon's absolute rage. It was the old woman, and her shoulders were shaking, her facial expression absurd in the circumstances. It was then I realized she was laughing. Condor snapped around, focusing gold eyes on Ling.

"So that's how you little buggers survived," her crackly voice spat, amused but dripping with unwarrented hatred. Without warning, blue flames jetted from her fists, and she was launched into the sky. Condor's iron hard muscles coiled-

"Condor, no!" I cried, grabbing onto a wing joint. Frustrated, his eyes full of bloodlust, he shot a vengeful flame up into the sky after the old woman, causing her blue flames to seem like nothing more than the light of a candle. My dragon's sides heaved after she left, a growl rumbling in his throat long afterwards. He curled around me, and for the first time I felt what had caused his anger-a deep shock of horror and feeling of helplessness towards the danger I had been in. He thought of Kwarak, and how huge and strong the dragon was compared to him-Condor was just a hatchling.

I was slowly aware of the people encircling us as Condor calmed down. And the pain throbbing through my back.

Your bandana...

I started-my forehead was open to the air. A wave of nausea swept through me as I registered all the faces staring at me and Condor. I bent down to retrieve the orange piece of fabric, and found the ground rushing up to meet me. Instead, I fell onto the top of Condor's muzzle.

Avira?! Condor's alarmed voice gripped firmly onto my consciousness as the world around me began to black out.

"Miss Airbender? I'm a water-bender. Please, allow me to help you," A voice rose above the feverant whispers of the crowd. I felt Condor's solid desperation of my condition conflict with his ever pressing need to keep me safe from the strangers whom we knew nothing about.

The thought of how crappy I must really look passed through my mind before I blacked out.