阴影

Part 4:

Shadows

-x-

Ellire's eyes shot open and she was half surprised to find that she had already been standing. The sky above was almost a pitch black and Ellire swore she could hear wind as it whistled between darkened trees, yet the air felt deathly still. Something about the whole scene gave Ellire the impression that she ought to feel frightened, or lost. But she didn't.

Instead there was something strangely comforting about this place.

A twig snapped from somewhere behind Ellire. She whipped her head around to see a majestic feline surrounded by its familiar purple glow.

"Sol."

The leopard-like spirit's whiskers twitched in amusement. "You remembered."

"It's not every day one gets to meet a spirit," Ellire pointed out. "Also kind of hard to forget such a big cat with eyes like a colored light bulb. So what's the deal? You here to give me another sales pitch or whatever?"

"There is no need," Sol said, his voice deep and soothing. "Your mind has already been made up."

The firebender furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't remember agreeing to anything."

"You are like an open book to me. There is a hunger inside of you that wants to be recognized, admired… even envied."

Ellire squinted. "And… you can make that happen? If I learn this… this 'shadowbending' thing?"

"There are few outside of the spirit world who can harness the power of darkness," Sol purred. "Do not deny that the mere idea of this power entices you."

A silence lingered in the air and Ellire held out the palms of her hands in front of her. They had an eerie orangey-red glow to them. She opened and closed her hand several times before looking back up to meet Sol's eyes.

"What do I have to do?"

-x-

It was still light out by the time Ellire's eyes fluttered open again. She sat upright a tad too fast and blinked several times before being able to see straight. From just behind her Dandan let out a thunderous yawn and stretched out his front paws. Naka and Rei were already up, and she spotted them sitting in the middle of the meadow a little ways away.

"So you came here all the way from the North Pole?" Naka was saying. The airbender was sprawled out on the grass, limbs outstretched.

Rei nodded. "Yup! Rode on the back of my dear childhood friend, Loosha the manatee cow! I'm actually on my way to the Southern Water Tribe right now. Just as soon as I figure out how to pay for the voyage over there, in any case."

"Nice," Naka smiled. "Elle and I are actually new around here as well. Up until a couple weeks ago we living in the Fire Nation."

"Why'd you leave?"

Naka sat up again. "Well. You know that earthbender girl who hired you to hunt us down?"

"Yes?"

"She might be the youngest person we've pissed off, but she certainly isn't the first."

Rei nodded slowly. "I see."

"Hey guys," Ellire said from behind the two benders. Rei and Naka looked over their shoulders to see the girl standing a little ways away. "How long was I out?"

"Ages," Rei answered.

"It's about an hour past noon. The two of us have been starving this whole time, but we didn't want to wake you."

"I think we still have bunch of snacks packed in the wagon," Ellire commented, already starting to circle back. She could've sworn she heard Naka say something back but couldn't make it out and then never bothered to investigate. Back under the shade of the tree, Ellire untied the curtain at the wagon's rear and pulled it aside, only to find a familiar figure curled up on top of the folded stage inside.

Ellire blinked in surprise. "Um… guys?"

But before she had time to explain Jairin's eyes flew open and the earthbender leapt forward, knocking Ellire backwards. In mere seconds the two were back up on their feet and Ellire snapped with both of her hands, igniting them in a ball of flame. She threw several poorly aimed punches in Jairin's direction, who easily ducked out of the way of each of them.

It was at this point that the others realized what was going on. Naka began dashing over, but Rei stayed grounded and swung her arms over her head, summoning forth a sizeable wave from the nearby creek. Unfortunately, this seemed to hurt Ellire more than Jairin upon impact, extinguishing her fiery gloves.

Ellire frowned and flicked her hands out to the side to shake off the water. "Can you not?" she growled.

Rei winced. "Sorry!"

Now it was Naka's turn to lend a hand. Jairin pulled a large chunk of solidified dirt from the ground and hurled in the direction of Naka and Rei, but the airbender quickly knocked it to the side with a large gust of wind. The dirt clump smashed against a tree trunk and crumbled into tiny pieces. Naka then lifted her arm again, suspending Jairin in the air. The younger failed about some, shrieking, "Put me down, you barbarian! That's cheating!"

"What are you even doing here?" Ellire demanded, folding her arms. "I thought we ditched you back at the last village."

"Thought wrong then, didn't you? You betrayed my trust - all three of you - and I'm not going home until I have something to show for it!"

"Well, brownie points for being such a trooper," Naka tried.

Rei bit at her lower lip. "But what are we supposed to do with her now?"

"There's some rope in the back. We could easily tie her up, leave her here…"

"We can't do that!" Naka gasped. "What if no one finds her?"

Ellire shrugged. "Not our problem."

"What if we take her with us?" suggested Naka.

"Why, because you think kidnapping is just one more charge that will look good on our wanted posters?"

"Actually Ellire's got a point," Rei chimed in. "Petty theft and fibbing is one thing, but I didn't sign up for kidnapping."

"...You didn't sign up for anything. You tried to kill us and then for some reason came with."

"Irrelevant."

"Hey, but hear me out," Naka went on. "She's not going to willingly go back on her own, right? So if it comes down to that or leaving her behind and possibly getting her killed-"

"Alright, fine! We'll take her with us!"

Jairin waved her arms in the air, trying to get the group's attention. "Hey! Don't I get any say in this?!"

She was promptly ignored and Ellire went on: "We'll take her with us. Once we reach the next town we'll lie low for a bit so that we don't draw attention to the situation. From there we'll write out a ransom note, have it delivered to Mr. and Mrs. Cole, and hopefully it won't be long before they set up a hostage exchange thing. More money for us, the brat off our hands - it's a win/win situation!"

Satisfied with this decision, Naka released the young earthbender, dropping her back onto the ground with a loud thud. The following half hour was spent wrestling a kicking and screaming Jairin back into the back of the wagon, where she was then bound and gagged.

-x-

After having packed up after lunch, Ellire, Naka, and Rei travelled onward for some time more. The path they were taking through the woods was for the most part quiet, save the crunching of leaves underneath the wagon's giant wooden wheels and Dandan's feet. Occasionally a lizard bird would fly over heard or scurry across their path, but the group felt otherwise alone.

As the sky began to darken the girls pulled over just far enough into the woods to keep hidden from anyone travelling along the path. Ellire lit a small campfire which she and Rei sat cross-legged in front of, having just finished snacking on trail mix (which was unfortunately what the majority of their meal consisted of).

"Y'know, it's kinda nice having someone besides Naka to talk to," Ellire was saying. "I mean, without feeling like I have to lie about what's actually going on, because in my experience that's never been very good for helping build successful relationships."

Rei half-smiled. "So, has is always been just the two of you, or…?"

Ellire began to fuss with her hair a bit before answering. "Well. There used to be someone else, but… I didn't exactly work out."

"Sensitive subject?"

"No!" the firebender shot back defensively. "I can talk about. We just didn't see eye to eye on a few things, that's all. She thought one of us needed to officially take over as troop leader. And... so did I."

Meeting Ellire's eyes, Rei nodded slowly. "I see. I'm sorry you couldn't work it out."

"Hey, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Rei and Ellire looked up to see Naka hovering above them and briefly wondered how long she'd been standing there. "Not at all," Ellire responded. "Come have a seat."

"Great!" Naka immediately plopped down between the two benders with very little concern for how much space was actually available. "So. Um. Do you mind if I talk to you guys about something serious for a minute?"

"You, serious?" Ellire raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, shoot," Rei said over her companion.

Naka took a deep breath before continuing. "Well. It's just that I've been thinking alot lately, and maybe this whole kidnapping thing isn't such a good idea after all."

"You've been talking to the earthbender, haven't you?"

"What? No! Okay, maybe a little bit, but Jairin has a point. I know you're always saying how we're not bad people, we just do what we have to now and it'll pay off in the end, but what if it never ends? What if we keep making the wrong decisions again and again? Forever?"

Ellire didn't answer at first, instead staring into the flickering campfire. "So what if we're the villains in this story?" she finally said. "I've only ever done what I thought was best. For both of us."

Naka frowned. "I'm not saying I want to be a hero or anything, but I'm not proud of what we've become. It even scares me a little."

"Look, I don't have time for your little moral crisis, alright? If you want out then that's on you!" the firebender snapped.

"Don't go putting words in my mouth!"

"Woah woah woah, everybody just calm down for a minute!" Rei interjected, shoving her way in between the two in order to referee the conversation. "You two are like, the closest friends I've ever seen! You can't start fighting now!"

"I'm going to bed," Ellire announced suddenly, standing up. She gestured to the campfire in front of her. "I trust you two know how to put this out when you're done?"

-x-

Chief Kumi and her men had also set up their camp as the sun disappeared over the horizon, although their tents took considerably longer to pitch. Aeron was just settling down on a mat on the floor of Blaise's tent when the firebender came storming in, her whole body hot and glowing with rage.

"I can't stand that infernal woman!" Blaise was saying.

Aeron lifted his tiny head. Kumi giving you a rough time?

"Why does she even bother having me around if she won't listen to a single thing I have to say? And on top of that, she even has to go and embarrass me in front of her soldiers! As if I didn't know that they talk about me behind my back already!" Throwing herself down onto the floor, Blaise immediately began shoving some of her belongings into a bag.

Wait, what are you doing now?

"Y'know, maybe I've been looking at this whole thing wrong," Blaise explained without looking up from her task. "Ellire and Naka couldn't possibly have known that I was going to get caught right after they left me. And us firebenders, we have a bad habit of getting hot headed, so what if Ellire was just acting in the heat of the moment and regretted it right away, but by then it was too late to do anything but flee?"

Enough with the puns. What is your point?

Blaise stood up and slung the back over her shoulder. "Even though Ellire and I didn't get along 100% of the time, Kumi likes me even less than that, and quite frankly, I deserve better than this. I don't want to go back to being alone, but maybe if I sneak out and get enough of a head start I can find Ellire and Naka in time to warn them of what's coming, being the wonderful double agent that I am, and then they'll have to take me back!"

Aeron made a low growling noise in the back of his throat. They abandoned you out on the streets! Who's to say they'll treat you any better a second time around?

"Naka cried the night Ellire and I fought. I have to at least try to fix things." Blaise turned to leave but was intercepted by Aeron, who flew into the air and skid to a halt in front of her.

Coward! he hissed. We talked about this. Just because you're mad at Kumi doesn't mean that her enemy is any less of yours. Also continuing to work with her is the only way to ensure your freedom!

"I'm sure Old Ironfire has half a mind to throw me in prison regardless of my assistance," Blaise retorted.

And what about getting revenge on Ellire for what she did to you? If you just come crawling back all that planning will have been for nothing!

"If I didn't know better, I'd say YOU were the one who wanted to see her dead!" There was a long silence before Blaise sank down to one knee to be more level with Aeron. "Wait a minute… You do, don't you? Has this really been about you the whole time?"

Aeron turned away. I dislike keeping things from you, but I feared that the truth in its entirety would cloud your judgement.

Blaise narrowed her eyes. "What do you know that I don't?"

Tell me, Blaise… How familiar are you with dragon prophecies?

-x-

Ellire fell to her knees. "I told you, I can't!" she whimpered.

"Not with that attitude you won't. Now get up and try again."

Not wanting to let Sol down, Ellire struggled to pick herself up again. She positioned her stance just as the spirit had instructed and held her arms out in front of her. A large white moon was shining overhead, casting a long shadow from a naked tree a little ways away. Sol watched intently as the firebender focused in on the shadow. After several seconds of nothing happening her legs began to quiver.

"You are growing frustrated," Sol commented. "Good. Use that anger to draw out the power you are afraid to tap into."

Ellire stopped one foot hard against the ground, sending a jolt of energy shooting through her body. Suddenly, as if being lifted by a set of invisible hands, the tree's shadow peeled itself away from the dirt below. It hovered in the air for a moment like a thin black curtain. Finally Ellire dropped her arms, panting, and the shadow melted back into the ground. She looked to Sol, who gave her a satisfied nod.

Distracted by a throbbing in her head, Ellire didn't even notice the thin stream of blood that had trickled down from the bottom of her nose.

-x-

"So what you're trying to say is… Ellire's gonna be possessed by some kind of demon and break the barrier between the spirit world and ours, killing hundreds of benders and nonbenders alike in the process?"

Well, evil spirit, but yes.

Blaise slouched her back where she was sitting. "And that would explain why you want me to kill her so bad."

Aeron nodded. It is the only way to prevent the prophecy.

"And you're absolutely sure that there's nothing we could do to save her? You know, try talking to her about it?"

The process has already begun. Sol will not be stopped unless his vessel is destroyed.

Blaise rubbed at the back of her neck in thought. "But, you said Sol had tried to pull something like this once before, and that the girl wasn't strong enough to contain his power. How do you know he'll ever stop?"

He won't, Aeron admitted. Sol is a dark spirit that can be slowed but never stopped. While taking Ellire out of the picture won't keep him from having another in another hundred years or so when he is twice as strong, but it will guarantee the safety of this generation.

"So kind of like putting tape on your favorite glasses instead of just buying a new pair?"

Something like that.

"I don't know," Blaise sighed. "It seems like an awfully tough judgement call, killing an old friend because of something she hasn't done yet."

You were ready to do the same just this morning. Why should the truth change that?

Blaise took a moment to chew on her lip before answering. "Tell you what: I'll stick around until we find her. If Kumi has Ellire locked up, then maybe she'll be useless to this Sol fellow."

And what if you're too late, and Sol has already taken control of Ellire?

"Then I'll do what I have to. But unless there's absolutely no other way, I won't fight her."

Then you are a fool. Innocent blood will be on your hands.

Ignoring the green dragon, Blaise put out the nearby lantern a wave of her hand and the tent went dark. "Goodnight, Aeron."

-x-

For the first time in ages Ellire was up bright and early the next morning. Still thinking about what happened during the night, she had gone down to the creek was was trying, without much success, to recreate the incident with the shadow from a small pile of rocks she'd stacked up.

"Working on a new routine for your magic show?"

Ellire jumped at Rei's voice. "Yes!" she exclaimed, quickly trying to cover up the fact that she'd successfully been startled. "Something like that. Choreographing for Naka is difficult since I can't actually airbend, so if it looked funny, that's probably why."

"Well I thought it looked alright," Rei said. "Hey, did you hit yourself this morning or something? Your nose is bleeding."

Ellire pressed her fingers against her face and inspected the sticky red that came off on them. "That's weird," she muttered, half to herself. "Guess I must've."

"Hold still, I think I've got just the thing!" Rei summoned forth a blog of water from the and brought it close to Ellire's face, who took a step back. "What? Don't you trust me?"

"To be perfectly fair, it hasn't even been 48 hours since the last time you attacked me."

"Technicalities. Now stop moving."

Ellire did so and allowed the floating water blob to press lightly against her nose. It immediately began glowing a fluorescent light blue color. After about a minute Rei threw it back into the creek with a splash.

"How's that feel?" the waterbender asked.

Because Ellire had felt no pain before she hardly noticed a difference, but upon further investigation realized that her nose was no longer bleeding and whatever had been there had now magically vanished. "Impressive," she finally said.

"And that's not I can do," Rei went on, "which is why I think you should let me be in A Touch of Magic! Y'know, since I'll probably be sticking around for some undefined amount of time."

Ellire made a face. "You want to be in our show?"

"Would you like a demonstration?" Rei drew a bit of water up from the creek again and began attempting to show off with it, swinging the element around like some kind of lasso or jump rope.

"Actually a while back Naka and I were talking about getting someone to start the show, like introducing us before we go on."

Without bothering to drop the water back into the creek, Rei just let it hit the ground, her mouth slightly ajar. "What? Are you kidding me? This is pure talent you'd be putting to waste! Just think about it!"

Ignoring her, Ellire made her way back to where they'd parked the wagon for the night and found Naka sitting in front of a small campfire. A flat piece of wood was set up over it and holding several eggs that were cooking. Next to Naka sat Jairin, her hands and feet still tied up, but eating a fried egg with very little difficulty because of it.

"What in the heck do you think you're doing?" Ellire demanded.

Naka looked up and smiled guiltily. "Fraternizing with the enemy? But on the upside, I found some lizard bird eggs and made breakfast! Probably would've gone better on toast, but seeing as we never got around to grocery shopping…"

"How'd you even start the fire back up without Ellire's help?" Rei questioned.

"The embers were still warm from last night. Turns out a little fresh oxygen was all they needed to wake up again!"

"Well aren't you clever."

Ellire folded her arms with a scowl. "Don't change the subject, missy! The plan was to kidnap the kid and hold her for ransom, not treat her like some kind of pet!"

"It's not hurting anybody," Naka said. "Well. In theory."

"If it helps, I never said I wanted to leave your stupid cart," Jairin finally chimed in.

"Look, why don't you stop being so stressed out about everything all the time and eat? You get even worse when you're hungry." Naka used her airbending to lift the two remaining eggs from the fire and float them onto a couple plates that she had pulled out of their mesh kit. Holding one in each hand, she held them out to Rei and Ellire, who eventually did accept the plates.

"Mm, this is quite good," Rei muttered upon taking a bite without using any silverware.

"Yeah, well, I've had a bit of practice," Naka said. "Ellire isn't allowed to cook for us because more often than not she burns all of our meals."

"Naka!" the firebender shot back angrily.

"What? It's the truth, isn't it?"

Ellire took a deep breath. "Never mind. Be ready to leave in another hour or so. The sooner we get back to civilization, the sooner our babysitting shift ends and we earn enough to treat ourselves properly." Ellire took one last bite of her meal and set the plate down before walking over to the wagon and fussing about with Dandan's reigns.

"She's not always this bad," Naka promised Rei. "She's just been under a lot of stress lately."

"Is this about what happened with Blaise?"

"No, of course not! Well, partly, I suppose. But that happened months ago and… Wait, who told you about that?"

The waterbender gestured over to the side of the wagon, where Blaise's name had been burnt out. "Wasn't hard to guess."

Jairin let out an exasperated sigh. "So am I just invisible, or…?"

"Quiet, you."

-x-

The group was on the road again shortly. The general consensus was that all was going well when Naka suddenly spotted something in the distance and stood up, pointing. "Look over there!" the airbender exclaimed. "It's another person!"

"Sit down before you fall out and we leave you behind!" Ellire threatened, pulling Naka back down by the back of her shirt.

"Looks like he's having road trouble," Rei commented from atop one of Dandan's antlers.

Sure enough, they were approaching an elderly man at the side of the road. Next to him and partially blocking their path was an overturned wagon, similar to their own, and a rhinoceros horse. The man waved out his arms desperately as the girls got closer and stopped several feet in front of him.

"What's the matter, sir?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Ellire groaned half to herself. "Now we're doing favors for strangers, too?"

"It's my wagon," the man explained. "I hit a bump in the road and it snapped, and now I'm stranded here!"

"Well I don't know what you expect us to do about it," Rei admitted. "I mean, I suppose we can give you and your… friend here a lift, but you'd have to leave the cart behind. Also I'm pretty sure you'd have just as much luck riding the rhinoceros horse instead."

The large beast snorted in response.

The three benders dismounted and Ellire crouched down to take a look at the damage. "Are you sure it's snapped? Because all the wheels look just fine to-"

She was cut short, however, by the sound of a handful of men jumping out from where they'd been hiding behind the trees. Wearing dark greens with their faces hidden behind a mask, the group made a circle surrounding the girls. Ellire straightened her back with narrowed eyes. The older man pulled out a scrap of cloth from his back pocket and tied it around his head, revealing an identical mask.

"Well, well," Rei smirked. "Unfortunate as this is, you have to admit that it's quite an interesting turn of events, given the circumstances."

"Take out whatever coins and jewelry you have on you and bring them here," the man instructed.

"We haven't any wealth on us," Ellire said.

"Don't be difficult. Although my men don't look armed, I assure you, each and every one of them is tough as rocks. Literally."

Ellire hummed. "Playing all the same cards, now, are we? Personally, I prefer to combine talents. Adds a bit of variety. Plus, less blind spots."

The gentleman squinted. "I don't think you quite understand the situation you've stumbled into. You're being robbed by wanted men!"

"No, sir. YOU are being robbed by a wanted WOMAN."

He frowned, and Ellire pointed towards Naka, who had tiptoed outside of the ring of robbers and was currently helping herself to as much stolen jewelry from the inside of the highwayman's overturned wagon as she could fit around her wrists and neck. Naka looked up slowly, gave a guilty smile, and waved. "Nothing to see here!" she exclaimed. "Go back to threatening each other! I'm doing fine!"

The old man let out an angry grunt and thrust his foot down. Almost immediately the earth began to tremble, and Ellire reacted by planting her feet firmly into the ground and launching a jet of fire in the man's direction. He then ducked, the plume of hot ember roaring over him, and came charging towards her. Fists now encased in gloves of solid rock, the man threw a punch at Ellire, hitting her square in the chest, knocking her back. Ellire recovered with a quick backwards summersault and sprung to her feet, only to see two fist sized boulders hurtling through the air towards her. Ellire expertly dodged one rock but the other violently slammed into her shoulder. She cried out in pain as the momentum flung her to the ground.

The man snorted in triumph as a dust cloud formed where Ellire had fallen. But as the dust began to rise it obscured the man's vision to the point of which he could not see Ellire any longer. Only when it was too late did he notice the streaks of orange and red that glowed in the gritty shot out at him viciously, searing his chest, and the man let out a surprised cry as they carried him back a couple of feet.

Ellire emerged from the cloud patting off the dirt that had clung to her already dirtied clothes. She smiled and returned the man's triumphant snort all the while mentally preparing herself for a counter-attack.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang had turned on Naka and Rae. Fighting with their backs pressed together, the two benders tooks turns whipping at the highwaymen who came too close with their respective lassos of water and air. The swarm of bandits prodded Naka and Rae's tight formation as if looking for a weak point in their form to exploit in their own attacks. And every time the raiders attacked the became harder and harder to fight off.

"There's too many of them!" Naka called back to Ellire.

Ellire clenched her jaw and tried to keep from panting. "You don't think I know that!"

Ellire continued to trade blows with the man until Ellire summoned her anger. She concentrated on the pain in her chest and shoulder from the hits she had taken moments earlier and sent a wave of flame hurtling at the man. The man crouched and sent up a wall of rock to shield himself from the torrent of fire.

Suddenly Ellire's opponent spun around and started running away from the brawl. Her confidence boosting, Ellire chased after him. The man then leapt onto his rhinoceros horse and began charging back the way he'd come and straight towards Ellire. Ellire's eyes widened and she let out a yelp, switching to defensive in an attempt to outrun the creature that was quickly gaining on her. When it was just about upon her Ellire hit the ground.

To her surprise, Naka had come to her aid from atop Dandan, who rammed his antlers into the rhinoceros horse's side, gouging the rhinoceros horses thick hide and sending the man and his mount toppling over. The ground shook harder than before. Ellire scanned her eyes across the battlefield, noticing that their cart had been turned on its side. The bender's attention was drawn in again to her current situation when she felt a tug at her arm.

"Ouch!" Rae squealed, recoiling.

"Sorry," Ellire apologized and picked herself up. "I have a bad habit of overheating when I'm stressed out."

"So I noticed. But never mind that, we've got to get out of here! We're outnumbered!"

Just as the waterbender said this, three of the highwaymen approached them. The group sent a large crack tearing through the ground between where they stood. Upon hitting the trunk of a tree, the plant made a snapping sound and came crashing down. Rae and Ellire dove out of the way just in time, narrowly avoiding its collapsing branches.

"Follow me!" Naka called out, dashing past them on Dandan's back. "I've got an idea!"

"Famous last words," Ellire grumbled. She struggled to keep up with her friend nonetheless. Within a couple seconds the girls came upon the edge of a steep canyon and skid to a halt. "Alright, what's your brilliant plan?" the firebender demanded.

"I can fly us across," explained Naka. "Not all at once, of course, but if we hurry maybe…"

Rae's face fell dramatically. "We're all gonna die."

"You two go," Ellire instructed.

"But what about you?"

"I have to get something from the wagon, and I need to borrow Dandan to get it."

Rae rolled her eyes. "Forget the stupid cart! You're not going to be able to get it away from them at this rate anyway!"

"Allow me to rephrase: I have to get someone from the wagon," sighed Ellire. Naka and Rae exchanged horrified looks of realization. Without waiting for a response, Ellire traded places with Naka on Dandan and took off away from the ledge.

"C'mon," Naka urged, gesturing for Rae to climb onto her back.

"Alright, I'm going to trust you, but so help me-"

-x-

Ellire reached the overturned wagon just in time to see a couple of men looting through it. Feeling anger bubble up inside of her, Ellire threw both of her arms forward. Upon doing so a dark shadow expanded from underneath the wagon, giving the ground below a quicksand-like consistency, so that the strangers sunk to their knees, screaming out in surprise and quite possibly pain. Ellire came closer and caught sight of Jairin, who was still inside of the wagon but pinned beneath bits of the folded stage.

While saying nothing, Ellire hopped off of Dandan and grabbed at the rope around Jairin's wrists. When she let go it snapped apart, its ends now blackened. Dandan seemed to realize what was going on and used his antler to hoist the stage off of Jairin. The earthbender had just crawled out when the ground shook once more. The girls both looked to see that the earthbenders had also freed themselves.

"Time to go," Ellire breathed, helping Jairin onto Dandan behind her.

Multiple large cracks had begun to form in the shaking earth, breaking apart the ground below as they hurried to get further and further away from them. As Ellire and Jairin got closer and closer to the canyon, however, the attack became even stronger. The two of them could just about feel the cliff crumbling beneath them. Dandan inched back a couple of steps to avoid the chunks of rock that were piecing off towards the very edge.

"Hold onto my waist," instructed Ellire.

Jairin made a face at this. "Pardon?"

"Just do it!" Ellire shouted back, tightening her grip on Dandan's antlers. Jairin did so reluctantly, and Ellire took Dandan back another foot or so before dashing forward again. Just as they reached the end the giant jackalope lept into the air and Jairin shrieked, clinging on tighter. Mere seconds after they had taken off of the ground a good portion of the cliff collapsed, sending an avalanche of rock tumbling down into the canyon below.

Dandan kept the benders suspended in the air for several seconds before hitting the ground and rolling onto his side. Jairin and Ellire flopped off of his furry back. Ellire, not waiting to see if Jairin was willing enough to use her earthbending to redirect the onslaught of boulders, immediately formed a dome of flames over the three of them. Her arms shook, struggling to force the barrier to hold against the avalanche. Several golf ball sized rocks managed to slip through, smashing into the ground dangerously close to the three of them.

The fire shield was starting to shrink slightly and even more rocks and pebbles broke through it. Clouds of dust and debris had begun to fill the air, stinging at Ellire's eyes. Ellire took a deep breath and pushed out the flames again. This time, however, a blackish layer of something seemed to line up against the innermost part of the curved wall, supporting it. Now nothing seemed to be getting through and, after waiting another minute or so for the sound of falling rocks to stop, Ellire released her hold on the barrier and plopped down onto her back with big, uneven breaths.

The dust cleared away slowly, revealing a clear ring around the trio where the majority of the the avalanche was unable to reach. Jairin lifted her head from where she'd been curled up in a tight ball next to Dandan. "Whelp. That was surprisingly badass," she said, blinking in surprise. Ellire didn't reply, and Jairin tried again: "By the way thanks for… you know, what you did back there. Honestly, I didn't think you guys would come back for me."

"I'm not very good at doing the right thing," Ellire managed, "but at least I think that was it?"

Jairin smiled. "I suppose so. It's a real shame about your wagon, though."

Ellire shut her eyes and frowned. "Too soon," she moaned.

"Do you think they're gone?" Jairin asked, standing up and staring up at where they'd just come from.

"I suppose they think we're gone," Ellire shrugged. She sat upright and cracked her knuckles out in front of her. Only then did she notice the little rings of half-dried blood that had formed around each nail. Not wanting Jairin to see for some reason, Ellire pulled her hands back in and began wiping them off with the bottom of her skirt.

-x-

"Can you see? Are they alright? Did they make it out?" Naka squeaked, wrapping herself tightly around Rei's arm.

"Yes, look, they're fine!" Rei snapped, using her head to nod towards the canyon below and her free arm to try and pry the airbender off of her.

"Oh thank god!" Naka exclaimed. She dropped to the ground, kneeling at the edge of the cliff and waved down at her friend. "Ellire! Ellire, over here!" she yelled.

"Naka!" the tiny firebender called back to her. "Do you see the earthbenders that attacked us on the other side?"

Naka looked up and scanned the horizon for the highwaymen, but they seemed to have all vanished. "Nope!" she yelled through cupped hands. "Hey, should I float down there and get you guys?"

"That would be much appreciated! But, what about Dandan? How would you manage to carry him?"

Naka's face fell when she put two and two together. "Yeah, I can see how that would be problematic," Rei said. "Too bad he's not a flying jackalope or something."

"Well, I can get you two up easily enough, but what should we do about Dandan? We can't leave him!" shouted Naka.

"Hold tight!" Rei yelled from over Naka's shoulder. "We'll try and get help!"

-x-

"So that's it, then?" Jairin asked. "We're trapped here?"

"Just for the time being. Unless, of course, you've suddenly remembered that you know how to make a giant staircase out of the wall?"

Jairin bit at her lower lip. "Um. I don't think I've had enough training to pull of something like that. I mean, throwing around rocks that are light enough to carry myself or shooting a single spike up from the ground, sure. But a staircase of that size… I mean, maybe if I kept at it for a couple days, and took a break every couple of steps…"

"You could've just said 'no'," Ellire sighed. "In any case, if we're going to be spending a bit of time here together, can I have your word that you're not going to try and kill me again?"

Jairin chuckled. "Well. You robbed my house, then ended up losing the closest thing you guys have to an actual home… I don't know. I guess we're pretty even."

"In that case, I suppose after we get out of this mess you're free to head on home," Ellire announced.

"What?" Jairin looked much more alarmed by this that Ellire would've anticipated. "You can't send me back now! We've already bonded! Plus, everything's so much more exciting out here! Action, adventure - do you realize how bored I was back there? And this way, I get to travel around with real professional benders! How cool is that!"

Ellire folded her arms. "Are you seriously suggesting that all this revenge business was just a big ploy to get out of the house?" Jairin smiled at Ellire guiltily. Ellire glared back. "You're a little shit. You know that, right?"

"So I've been told. Is that a yes?"

"Well it's true. And do I have much of a choice?"

"Not really. No."

"Figures."