Odette:

We were in an isolated area somewhere in the vicinity of Fire Fountain Village. Elise and Kole faced each other, apparently about to engage in combat. The two had been bickering all week and to avoid another fight, I stood up between them, tying my headband around my eyes for a blindfold.

"Ok, I'm ready for some training!" I announced.

I assumed a fighting stance and stomped on the ground with one foot. In my mind, I saw concentric circles radiating out from the impact of my foot: Elise had been instructing me in her ability to "see" via earthbending. She bended several columns of rock my way and I dodged them with ease. Kole attacked with a water whip and I evaded this as well, recoiling it back onto him and simultaneously hurling a boulder at Elise. Elise caught it on the end of her fist.

"Good job, twinkle-toes. Visualize - then attack!" Elise complimented.

She propelled the boulder back towards me and I corkscrewed into the ground to avoid it. The boulder, obeying Newton's first law, continued on its trajectory and collided with Kole's chest, bowling him over.

"Maybe you should take your own advice, Elise," he snapped angrily.

"What's the matter? Can't handle some dirt, Madame Fussy Britches?" Elise shot back obnoxiously.

Kole drenched Elise with a wave.

"Oh, sorry, did I splash you, mud slug?"

Furious, they careered towards each other on ramps of rock and ice, respectively, collided, and fell to the ground with shrieks of rage.

I sighed, still blindfolded. "Are we taking a broke?"

Alana, with an evil grin on her face, rushed towards me from behind, yelling.

"Yaaaaaah, sneak attack!"

Bored, I bended a column of rock in her path, then removed the blindfold.

"Alana, sneak attacks don't work if you yell it out loud," I said.

Kole and Elise continued wrestling around in a pool of mud.

"Hungry for a mud pie?" Elise yelled and kicked mud in Kole's face.

"I'll give you a mud pie," Kole yelled back and mudbended Elise to the ground. Elise sprang back up and earthbended Kole into the air. They were about to go at it again when they were interrupted by me.

"Uh, guys, I thought we were supposed to be training me" I said.

Kole, salvaging what dignity he could, gave up the fight. "Very well, pupil. I believe we've had enough training for today."

He walked away.

Elise looked after him derisively. "While Kole cleans up, let's go have some fun!"

Alana and I both jumped up excitedly. "Yes! Yeah!"

Alana:

In a Fire Fountain Village, Odette, Elise, and I were strolling down the street. Messenger hawks were continually flying about, and I took notice of them.

"Look at all those messenger hawks. You know, I've been thinking about getting one for myself. That way, I wouldn't have to talk to anyone... I could just send them messages!" I said excitedly, wanting one more and more as I watched the beautiful birds.

"I gotta say, I like the idea of not talking to you," Elise said jokingly.

"So, guys, what are we gonna get with our last silver piece?" Odette asked.

"We can get more money. Right there," Elise said and pointed to a street below, where a con man was fleecing a crowd of Fire Nation citizens with a shell game. "This is where you seeing people are at a disadvantage. Everyone guesses wrong because the dealer moves the rock at the last minute. But I can feel it with my earthbending."

By this time we had descended and joined the crowd around the table. The con man spotted the innocent-looking "blind" girl and decided she was an easy mark.

"You there. Want to play a friendly game?" he asked her.

"How could I possibly play? I'm blind," she asked innocently and I smirked.

"You don't have to see to be lucky," the dealer said.

She groped her way to the table and laid down the last silver piece. The dealer practiced his sleight of hand with the pea, sending it flying from one shell to another, but Elise couldn't be fooled. She guesses correctly and the dealer tossed money her way.

"Flamey-o, Elise!" Odette cheered.

"Wow, fancy guessing. You are amazing at this. Would you like to make the game a little more interesting?" the dealer asked.

Elise cocked her head to the side. "More interesting? How?"

The dealer smiled. "Well, let's say you toss in your friend's fine sword there. Then I'll put up twenty silver pieces against it, and that's more interesting."

Elise grabbed my sword and handed it over, much to my distress.

"I'll do it for forty silver pieces," Elise said.

"Forty silver pieces it is." The shell shuffling began again, faster and more furious. She pointed at one of the shells and the dealer smugly lifted it.

"Sorry, little lady, but…" to his shock, the pea was still there "...huh?"

Elise smiled excitedly. "I won!"

Nice…

Kole:

Odette, Alana, and Elise returned to our campsite, arms filled with provisions.

I was startled, wondering how they had gotten so much stuff…we'd only had a few coins when they'd left.

"Where did you guys get the money to buy all this stuff?" I asked.

Odette smiled and tossed her hair out of her face. "Elise got us money. She scammed one of those guys in town who moves the shells around all sneaky-like."

"She used earthbending to win the game. Classic!" my sister said, grinning.

"Ah, so she cheated," I stated harshly.

"Hey, I only cheated because he was cheating. I cheated a cheater. What's wrong with that?" Elise argued.

"I'm just saying, this isn't something we should make a habit of doing," I said, not wanting to get into it with her again.

Elise glared at me. "Why? Because its fun, and you hate fun?"

"I don't hate fun," I snapped indignantly. I seized Fang and draped him on top of my head. "See? Fun."

Fang slid off my head with an annoyed growl.

"Kole, I'll personally make you an Avatar promise that we won't make a habit of doing these scams," Odette said sincerely. She lifted her headband to reveal her arrow and solemnly bowed to me.

"Avatar promises" apparently were not worth much, because the next day they went right back to the village and Elise used her powers to rig a dice game, win a strongman competition, and extort a merchant after tricking him into thinking he had run her over with his carriage.

While all this was going on, I was remonstrating with the cash-flush flimflammers. When they returned from another day of playing their games, I decided enough was enough.

"Guys, I think these scams have gone far enough. If you keep doing them, something bad is gonna happen," I warned.

Elise rolled her eyes. "Could you for once stop being such a sourpuss and just lighten up?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You think I should be more like you? Like some wild child?" I snapped.

"Yeah, maybe. Maybe then, you'd see how great we have it. I mean, look at us. We're traveling around the world, making easy money, having fun, with no parents to tell us what to do," she replied carelessly.

"Ah, I see. You're acting like this because of your parents," I stated smugly.

Elise waved her hand dismissively. "Whatever."

"They were controlling over you, so you ran away, and now you act like your parents don't exist. You act like you hate them, but you don't. You just feel guilty," I said.

"I do hate them!"

"I don't think so. I think you miss them. But you just don't want to deal with that, so instead, you act like this crazy person."

Elise was fuming. "Look. I ran away to help Odette!"

"You know what?" I snapped, my own temper starting to flare. "It doesn't matter. These scams put us all at risk, and we don't need that. We've already got some third-eyed freak after us."

"Speaking of that third-eyed freak... I think I've come up with a name for him. What do you think of..."Sparky-Sparky Boom Man"!" Alana said and we were all unimpressed. "Just think about it."

"We have enough money. You need to stop this!" I yelled.

Elise yelled right back at me. "I'll stop when I want to stop, and not when you tell me!"

Furious, I walked away.

Alana:

I watched at my brother stormed away and waited to speak until he was gone.

"Speaking of money, I'm off to spend some. See you guys later," I said, taking a bag with me.

In the Fire Fountain Village, I was there for no more than a few minutes before I fulfilled my dream and had bought myself a messenger hawk.

"Hawky, welcome to Team Avatar. My name's Alana, and I'm your new owner. And as such, I should warn you that there's already a wolf in our group, so I don't want to see any fighting." I poked the hawk affectionately and cooed baby-talk at it. "Good wittle messenger Hawky. Who's got pwetty feathers?"

I walked by a wanted poster of Elise, and did a double-take. The hawk screeched loudly and I ruffled it's red feathers slightly.

"You're right, Hawky. This is bad."

Odette:

Alana returned with a red Fire Nation hawk perched on her shoulder. With a looked of worry on her face, she walked towards Elise as she sat counting money.

"Elise, when I was in town, I found something that you're not gonna like," she said and unfurled a wanted poster.

"Well, it sounds like a sheet of paper, but I guess you're referring to what's on the sheet of paper," the blind earth bender said.

Alana sighed. "It's a wanted poster. Of you. They've nicknamed you 'The Runaway.'"

Elise was enthused. "A wanted poster. That's so great. "The Runaway". I love my new nickname. Is there a picture of me? Does it look good?"

Alana turned the paper around and nodded at it. "Well, yeah, actually, it does look pretty good. But Elise, you're missing the point. Maybe Kole was right. These scams are drawing too much attention to us."

Elise sighed. "Don't be such a worrywart like your brother. Think of it this way. Now you have plenty of money to help with the invasion plan!"

She dangled a sack of money before her.

"Well, that is true. I had this idea of making armor for Fanindra," she said.

Elise smiled. "Here's a little extra so you can get yourself a nice map of the Fire Nation. You know what? Make it an atlas."

She handed her the entire bag.

Alana smiled greedily. "I do like expensive atlases."

Elise patted her knee. "Of course you do. And that's why this wanted poster is going to stay our little secret."

She snatched it from her, hid it beneath her vest and walked away as Kole walked up.

Kole looked at her disapprovingly. "Alana, tell me you didn't buy a bird."

"Not just a bird. A messenger bird! Now we can send messages all over the world, even to Gran-Gran," she argued back in annoyance.

"Wow, how does it work?" I asked.

"Hm, uh, I never actually thought about that. Hawky: Gran-Gran, South Pole." She pointed helpfully but Hawky shook his head in confusion. "I think he gets it."

Fang appeared over my shoulder and dashed at my new rival. They wheeled furiously about Alana as she tried to calm them.

"Hawky, make nice! Bad Hawky!"

Kole:

I was so mad at my sister and Elise I could have choked them both.

Later in the day, Alana and Elise were returning from further hijinks in town, arms loaded with money.

"Well, look who decided to join us. Where have you two been? Off scamming again?" I snapped.

Elise ignored my dark tone. "Yes, we were."

"And I suppose you don't think what you're doing is dangerous at all?"

"No, I don't."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Well then, what's this?" I flourished the wanted poster before Elise.

She glared at me, exasperated. "I don't know! I mean, seriously, what's with you people I'm blind!"

"It's a wanted poster of you. "The Runaway". Is that what you're called now? Are you proud of this?" I snarled.

"Where did you get that?!"

"It doesn't matter where I got it. The fact is…"

"You went through my stuff! You had no right," Elise screamed, outraged.

"Your stuff was messy, and I was just straightening up and I happened to stumble across it."

"That's a lie! You're lying, Kole," Kole she accused.

"Fine! It's a lie. But you've been so out of control lately, I knew something was up. I knew you were hiding something, and you were," I said as Elise knocked the poster from my hand and walked away. "Don't you walk away from me while I'm talking to you!"

"Oh, really, Mom? Or what are you going to do? Send me to my room?" Elise yelled.

I huffed in annoyance. "I wish I could."

"Well, you can't. Because you're not my mom, and you're not their mom," she screeched and pointed to Odette and Alana.

"I never said I was!"

"No, but you certainly act like it. You think it's your job to boss everyone around, but it's not. You're just a regular kid like the rest of us, so stop acting like you can tell me what to do. I can do whatever I want!"

"I don't act that way," I yelled in a shrill and anxious voice, chagrined. "Alana, do I act motherly?"

Alana, alarmed, decided discretion was the better part of valor.

"Hey - I'm staying out of this one."

"What do you think, Odette? Do I act like a mom?"

Odette dug nervously at her eye. "Well, I…"

"Stop rubbing your eye and speak clearly when you talk!" I yelled, raging.

Odette straightened, chastened. "Yes, sir."

Elise threw her arms in the air. "I can't be around you right now!"

"Well, I can't be around you!"

We both stormed off and Alana's stupid hawk squawked plaintively.

Alana sighed and ruffled his feathers. "I know, Hawky. Why can't they just get along?"

Odette:

Later in the day, Alana and I were sitting together, observing Kole and Elise sitting resentfully at opposite ends of the camp.

"Hey, Odette, you want to test out my messenger hawk with me? I've got an idea," Alana said, grinning..

Intrigued, I nodded my approval. "Sure."

"I'm gonna send a note to Kole and say it's from Elise, who wants to apologize. Then everyone will be friends again," she said.

I nodded, thinking it through. "I gotta say, Alana, you continue to impress me with your ideas."

"Eh, it's a gift," Alana said and took pen and paper and composed a missive. "Dear Kole. Sorry for everything. Your friend, Elise."

She slid the note into Hawky's dispatch tube and the bird sailed over to Kole, who read the message and stood up, facing us.

"I know this is from you, Alana. Elise can't write. Ugh, you're all driving me crazy!" he yelled and I winced as he walked away.

I smacked my forehead. "I can't believe we forgot Elise can't write."

Alana nodded, her mouth hanging open. "Yep, we're idiots."

"I guess plan B is, we send a note to Elise pretending it's from Kole."

Alana shook her head. "I think we're gonna run into a similar problem. Sorry, Hawky. looked like I'm gonna have to do this without your help."

She stood up and walked over to tearthbenderder, resting her hand on her shoulder. "Come on, we need to talk."

Kole:

Alana and Elise took a seat on an overhanging cliff, unaware that I was bathing in the water below. Their entire conversation was audible to me.

"So let me guess. You brought me out here to tell me your brother's not as annoying as I make him out to be," Elise said.

"Nah, he's pretty much a pain," Alana replied and I scowled. "He's always got to be right about everything, and he gets all bossy, and involved, and in your business."

"Yeah, I don't know how you can deal with it."

"Actually, in a way, I rely on it."

I started, surprised.

Elise was apparently confused. "I don't understand."

"When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Kole, he had so much strength. He stepped up and took on so much responsibility. He helped fill the void that was left by our mom."

I dipped my head sadly. That time was harder on me than my family could ever imagine.

Elise was amazed. "I guess I never thought about that."

"I'm gonna tell you something crazy. I never told anyone this before, but honestly, I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like, my whole life, Kole's been the one looking out for me. He's always been the one that's there, and now, when I try to remember my mom, Kole's is the only face I can picture."

I was overcome with emotion.

Elise sighed. "The truth is, sometimes Kole does act motherly, but that's not always a bad thing. He's compassionate and kind, and he actually cares about me. You know, the real me. That's more than my own mom. Don't ever tell him I said any of this."

I heard her punch Alana in the shoulder.

Alana laughed. "Hey, my lips are sealed."

Odette:

As the sun set, out entire group reunited at the camp.

"Hi, Elise. Um, I want to…" Kole started, uncomfortable.

Elise raised her hand. "Kole, stop. You don't need to apologize. I was the one being stupid. These scams are out of control, and I'm done with them."

Kole smiled slyly. "Actually, I wasn't going to apologize. I was gonna say... I want to pull a scam with you!"

Alana and I gaped in astonishment.

"What? You want to pull a scam?" Elise clarified, shocked.

"Not just any scam...the ultimate scam!" Alana and I collapsed, stupefied. "What do you say, Elise? Just me and you... one last go. You in?"

"You know I'm in! Now what's this idea of yours?" Elise asked.

The two conspirators walked off together as Alana and I lied supine on the ground, foaming at the mouth practically.

"The plan is simple. This wanted poster says you're worth a lot of money," Kole said. "Ten times more than you've made in all your scams. So I'm gonna turn you in and collect the reward. Then you metalbend yourself out of jail, and we're on our way."

Kole:

Elise fell to the ground, captured.

She turned her head, glaring at me with hateful blind eyes. "How could you do this to me? You betrayed me."

I glared right back at her, irritated and fed up. "You brought this on yourself. I had no choice."

The mayor walked up tome then as Elise was dragged away.

"You did the right thing by turning in 'The Runaway'," he said.

"The right thing is its own reward," I replied sanctimoniously.

The mayor nodded. "Well, I'm happy to hear you say that."

"But... I still want the actual reward," I continued, disconcerted.

"Of course. Right this way."

Elise:

Elise was dragged past a metal cell and flung into a wooden one. I groped around and was dismayed to find my "sight" inoperative.

"Hey, what kind of cell is this?" I yelled, alarmed. I had never been able to not see things before.

A Female Fire Nation Officer's voice reached me through the bars. "A wooden one."

Oh great.

Kole:

In his office, the mayor opened a money box for me when the door creaked open. The mayor pointed to me and spoke to a person in the doorway.

"That's her. That's the girl you were looking for."

I turned around to see the hulking figure of Sparky-Sparky Boom Man looming over me.

Odette:

I paced back and forth around our campsite worriedly.

"Do you think this scam of theirs should be taking this long?" I asked, chewing my fingernails to distract myself from the worry.

"I was just wondering the same thing. We'd better check it out," Alana said.

Leaving, I admonished to Hawky and Fang. "You two behave. Fanindra's in charge."

The two creatures began to squabble anyway, but a reproving roar from Fanindra put a quick stop to that.

Kole:

In the jail, I joined Elise in her wooden cell.

"Wait. It's a trap!" Elise gasped.

I glared at her. "Really? No kidding. Is that why we're sitting in a wooden cage right now? Gee, how'd you figure out it was a trap?"

"Not for us, Kole. We're the bait. He wants Odette," she said, her pale white eyes wide.

Oh no!

I slammed my fists against the wooden cell furiously. "I can't believe I was so stupid. See, this is exactly why I'm against these scams. I knew this would happen."

And now to top everything off, I'd put Odette in danger. She would come looking for us, I knew she would.

Elise frowned. "But...this was your idea."

"I know. I wanted to show you that I'm not so motherly. I wanted to show you that I can have fun too."

Elise sighed. "Kole, you are fun. If nothing else, you're at least fun to argue with."

"I know your relationship with your parents is complicated, and I shouldn't have said what I said," I apologized, feeling bad.

"It's ok. I was really mad when you said that because; well, because maybe it's true. I try not to think about it, but when I left, I probably really hurt them," she said and tears started dripping down her face in steady streams.

She started to sob and I comforted her with a hug.

Odette:

Alana and I searched through the strangely deserted streets of Fire Fountain Village for our lost friends.

Alana looked and me, frowning. "Where do you think they might be?"

"Where do you think anyone is?" I asked.

Just as I said this, Sparky-Sparky Boom Man appeared on a rooftop, just above us. As he drew in his breath preparatory to firebending at us, I jumped into action.

"Alana, watch out!"

Sparky-Sparky Boom Man let loose a blast and we barely managed to dodge it.

"It's "Sparky-Sparky Boom Man"!"

"You know, I'm starting to think that name doesn't quite fit," Alana said as the man leapt to the ground and fired another shot at us.

Kole:

In the jail cell, Elise and I could hear the sounds of the fight and I began to panic.

"What are we gonna do?" I asked, freaking out.

Odette was not going to leave until she found us and I doubted she was alone. My sister and her could very well be killed today.

"I don't know! I wish we had some earth or water. We need bendables!" Elise cried, freaking out just as much as I was.

"What about your meteor bracelet? You could make a saw."

"I left it back at camp. I was worried they would take it," she said.

I groaned and wiped sweat from my forehead…and had an idea. Looking at the moisture on my hand and then at the wooden cell, I wasted no time.

I stood up and began running in place.

Elise was understandably puzzled. "Um, Kole…are you ok?"

"Just fine."

She looked around then back at me. "Well, what are you doing?"

"I'm making my own water!"

I dashed the sweat now pouring from my face against the cell bars, cutting deep swipes in them.

Elise jumped up, grinning. "Kole, you're a genius! A sweaty, stinky genius!"

I stuck my hands beneath my armpits and flung the sweat from them towards the bars.

Hold on, Odette.

Odette:

In the town square, Alana and I were frantically eluding Sparky-Sparky Boom Man's assaults.

Alana was huffing, running out of breath. "This guy is too good. He shot fire from his brain!"

I nodded. "We should split up. He can't chase us both."

without wasting a second, we split.

As I ran along a roof, Sparky-Sparky Boom Man spotted me and fired. The blast sent me careering into the chest of the statue of Mordred, whence he fell to the ground, prostrate. Sparky-Sparky Boom Man walked up to me and was about to deliver the coup de grace, when a bolt of ice suddenly encased his head. He stumbled away to reveal Kole and Elise behind him.

"Odette, get up!" Kole yelled.

Elise waved me over. "Let's get out of here."

We fled, but not before Sparky-Sparky Boom Man shattered his ice muzzle. As he prepared to fire at us, Elise bended a rock at him. He destroyed it with a fire blast, but a piece of the rubble flew into his forehead and struck his tattoo, knocking him to the ground and apparently causing him extreme pain. He got up and tried to resume his attack, but his power had somehow been turned against him; as he tried to focus his "laser beam", the air around him ignited and exploded.

As we ran out of the village, Alana looked behind her and grinned.

"Hey, I got it. The perfect name for that guy! "Combustion Man"!" she declared.

Elise patted her shoulder. "Good job, Alana. Now let's get out of here before "Combustion Man" catches us!"

Alana cheered. "See? It fits so well."

Kole:

Fanindra descended towards a new campsite. It was nighttime and Alana yawned and stretched as we landed.

"Well, I'm exhausted. Hawky, how about you, buddy?" she said affectionately. "Yeah, you're such a lazy little bird."

"Kole, I need your help," Elise said and I blinked, surprised that she would come to me for anything.

"What is it, Elise?" I asked, a little wary.

"I need you to write some things down for me. I want to send a letter to my parents," she said.

"I'll be happy to help," I said, smiling warmly.

When the letter was written, Elise slipped it into Hawky's dispatch tube and the bird soared into the night air. It took only a few seconds, however, for Alana to notice that someone was missing.

"Hey, where'd Hawky go?"