Jonathan
After Omashu we had flown for about a couple days. We had been going about our regular schedules in that time.
I've been trying to keep my normal Jedi skills up to par. Unfortunately not having a sparring partner, makes lightsaber training more difficult, but again I made do, practicing my forms, to the best of my ability. It didn't make up for a real person, but it was definitely better than nothing. And I didn't want to start getting sloppy now, no telling what we'll face while we're out here.
Qui-Gon, had also taught me of an ability called, 'Electric Judgment', which he said was like sith force lightning, but did not require the dark side, to grant its use. All though I was still wary of the ability at first. He had convinced me to try. And I found it's use without the dark sides aid. Although it was difficult to use without drawing on it, which made me need to keep my guard up whenever I did use it.
Unfortunately also during this time, we were slowly running low on supplies. Mainly food. We hadn't run into a village for a while, and didn't have much money on us to begin with. Plus the food we had brought from the southern water tribe had run out. So while we were camping out in the middle of a forest, Sokka had gone out to get food. I had offered to go but he insisted, although I don't know how much of that was logical instead of him feeding his own pride, that he didn't need me to fend for him. Even after what happened at Kyoshi, he could still be a bit arrogant, and overconfident in his own abilities at times.
So here we sat, me Meditating, Aang resting on a fallen tree, and Katara finishing folding up a blanket. I sensed his return before the others did, and came out of my meditative state, when Sokka had finally come within range of the others. He had a bag with him, although it didn't look like much, especially for feeding four people.
"Great your back! What's for dinner?" Aang asked, jumping off of his resting place.
"We've got a few options." He said reaching down into the bag. First, round nuts, and some kind of Oval shaped nuts, and some rock shaped nuts, that might just be rocks."
We'll Sokka, you've really outdone yourself this time haven't you. I thought sarcastically to myself. Sokka it appears had proven me right. He didn't know the area, nor any of the plant, and animal life. Which means that he would have a hard time even scavenging for food. I would've at least had the force to guide me, but Sokka didn't have such a guide.
Me, Aang, and Katara looked at each other, then back at Sokka. "Seriously, what else you got?" Katara asked.
Sokka looked back in the bag, as all of a sudden a huge bang was heard from somewhere in forest, loud enough we could feel the vibrations in the ground.
We looked around a little confused. "What was that?" Sokka asked slightly fearfully. Then another was heard, and now we had a direction to follow.
"It's coming from over there." Aang pointed toward the direction the sound was coming from. Then we all started running towards the sound except for Sokka who was still unsure. "Shouldn't we run away from huge booms, not toward them?" But we didn't listen to him as we ran forward, and hid behind another fallen tree. We looked over it to see what was making the noise.
It appeared to be a young man earthbending. He didn't appear to be more than sixteen years old. Yet he appeared to have a fine amount of control over the earth, as he lifted a large rock, and moved it, and then shot it into the wall beside him, in the little trench he was practicing in.
"He's an Earthbender." Katara said in amazement.
"Let's go meet him." Aang added in.
"He appears dangerous, so we better approach cautiously." Sokka added, always the skeptic.
But while Sokka said this Katara had somehow run past us, without alerting anyone that she had moved out into the open, to try and meet this guy. "Hello there!" She called. "I'm Katara. What's your name?"
The boy turned to look back at us with a look of first shock, and then fear, as he turned, and ran, earthbending some rocks behind him, so that we couldn't easily follow him.
"Nice to meet you!" Aang called after him.
"I just wanted to say hi." Katara said in a disappointed tone.
"He seemed afraid, when he saw us. It's hard to explain. But he seemed to think we were going to hurt him." I said in a contemplative manner.
"Hey that guy's gotta be running somewhere." Aang said. "Maybe we're near a village. And I bet that village has a market."
"Which means no nuts for dinner." Katara concluded catching on to Aang's idea.
As Aang, and Katara ran off in the direction of the possible village, Sokka had a dejected look on his face, from the lack of appreciation for his hard work. "Hey I worked hard to get those nuts."
"Come on Sokka, do you really want to sit in our camp and eat nuts, and rocks, or do you want to go get some actual food. I bet they probably have some type of meat there." I said trying to make him feel better. At my words, Sokka's mouth watered slightly, and his eyes opened wider.
"Yeah, I guess." He said as we took off after the others.
After about a half an hour of walking we finally found the village, that we were looking for. After a few minutes of looking around in the market Aang ended up spotting a straw hat, that he traded some nuts to get. Why nuts worked for this guy, I have no idea, but at least Aang has something to hide his arrow now.
"Hey!" I turned around hearing Katara, only to see her go running towards a small house that had been converted into shop. I reached out to the house, and felt the presence of the boy from earlier. I sighed, and waved Aang, and Sokka over so we could follow her in, and make sure she didn't get into any trouble.
"Hey! You're that kid." At Katara's words the kid turned around in fear to Katara. "Why did you run away before?"
"Uh..you must have me confused with some other kid." He lied quickly to cover up for earlier. Though it was confusing as to why. Did it have something to do with him earthbending.
"No, she doesn't. We saw you earthbending." At Aang's words, the kids mother quickly shut the door, and closed the window covers. Her actions confirming my suspicions.
"They saw you doing what?" She asked fearfully.
"They're crazy mom. I mean look at how they're dressed." He quickly defended again. He was trying to use our appearance to make us look unbelievable, but I could see from the look on his mother's face that it wasn't working.
"You know how dangerous that is. You know what would happen if they caught you earthbending." She chastised.
Something had clearly happened to cause his mother to be so fearful of him using his skill. Though I could only theorize, I had some idea of what happened.
Suddenly someone was knocking loudly on the door "Open up!". Sokka went to look through the window to see who it was. "Fire nation!" He reported. "Act natural." And unfortunately it appears most of the people in the room had very poor acting skills. Aang was leaning on a barrel with a cheesy smile, Katara was eating some kind of berries, and Soka, and the kid were looking oddly at and apple. I managed to actually look like I was perusing, but everyone else's poor acting skill made me want to cringe so badly.
"What do you want?" The mother asked distracting the fire nation soldier who had just walked in. "I've already paid you this week." The soldier turned with a wicked smile on his face, and I could tell he had nothing but bad intentions.
"The tax just doubled. And we wouldn't want accident now would we?" He said lighting a flame in his hands. "Fire can sometimes be so hard to control.
This act made my blood boil, which was most disconcerting. In the last few weeks, I had noticed my temper had been slightly shorter than normal. Ever since the extermination of Jedi in fact, as well as from the visions I had received when I had first got here. Although this kind of thing would have disgusted me before, now it infuriated me. And not only that, but I could not do a thing about it, or I would just draw more attention to everyone in here. And that would be no good for anyone.
It took every amount of self control I had to not lash out at the soldiers that were now robbing this poor women. If I ever saw these men again, they would pay dearly. No, what am I thinking, revenge is not the Jedi way. I can't allow my anger to control me, no matter what it is that they are doing. We will stop the fire nation, but we will not seek revenge. I thought trying to silence my dark thoughts. But my inner conflict still lingered.
The women looked down sadly in defeat, as she went to wear she kept her money, and gave the meager amount they had. The man then took out some of the copper pieces. "You can keep the copper ones." He said dropping them on the ground, and leaving.
I felt another spike of anger at this man, but managed to control this one as well. I was really going to have to work through my issues. If my anger continues, it could lead to the dark side. And no one would want that.
The soldier left, slamming the door on the way out. I scowled after him. "Nice guy." Sokka commented dryly. "How long has the fire nation been here."
"Five years." She responded. "Fire Lord Ozai uses his coal mines to fuel his ships."
"They're thugs." The kid butted in. "They steal from us, and everyone hear is to much of a coward to do anything about it." He finished bitterly.
"Quiet Haru." She reprimanded. "Don't talk like that."
"But Haru's an Earthbender. He can help." Katara said.
"Earthbending is forbidden." The mother of the kid, now we know is named Haru said. "It's caused nothing but misery for this Village. He must never use his abilities." My expression softened a bit. I was starting to understand what had happened.
But apparently Katara wasn't getting the picture. "How can you say that? Haru has a gift. Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are."
"You don't understand." Haru's mother said.
"I understand that Haru can help you fight back. What can the fire nation do that they haven't done to you already?"
"They could take Haru away, like they took his father." Haru's mother said sadly.
Katara's face turned to shock, and sympathy, while Haru's face hardened.
I closed my eyes as flashes of the massacre at the Jedi temple replayed in my mind. The fire nation was just as bad as the new 'empire' that Qui-Gon has told me about, in his visits. This made my blood boil again. We would stop this, we would defeat the fire nation, and stop their atrocities once and for all.
Later, Haru leed us to his, and his mother's farm. "My mom said you can sleep here tonight. But you should leave by morning." He and his mother had been offly nice to us. Even after all that has happened they still held generous spirits, which was truly inspiring.
"Thanks." Aang responded. "I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all of your hay."
Me, Katara, and Haru, then decide to go for a walk, and so we left the barn, and started walking west.
"I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Katara said as we walked. "I didn't know about your father."
"That's ok." He responded. "It's funny, the way you were talking back in the store. It reminded me of him."
"Thanks." She said meekly.
"My father was very courageous. When the fire nation invaded, he and the other earthbenders were outnumbered 10 to 1. But they fought back anyway."
"He sounds like a great man." Katara said.
"Yes." I added in. "I would very much like to meet this man someday."
"Yes, well hopefully that day will come. None of us will ever get to talk to him again as long as he's stuck in prison." Haru said bitterly, causing me to look down saddened at his words. I felt guilty for not doing more to help, but what can we do? We don't even know where he's being held.
He looks regretful for his tone. "I'm sorry, I just miss him. I haven't seen him in a very long time." I nodded to him in understanding.
"It is alright to feel emotion, your father was a man you respected and cared for. I know I would probably feel similar in your position." I look down. The reality is I was in his position. I did have family stripped away from me. Or at least as close to family, as a jedi can get.
"After the attack," He continued. "they rounded up my father and every other earthbender. And took them away. We haven't seen them since." As he said this we approached a cliff side, overlooking the sunset.
"So that's why you hide your earthbending." Katara concluded.
"Yeah." He paused, kneeled down, and picked up to small rocks and levitated them in his hand, spinning them in a circle. "The problem is, the only way I can feel close to my father now is when I practice my bending." He then lowered the rocks to his hand, and crushed them into dust. "He taught me everything I know."
Katara then sat down next to Haru who was still kneeling, as I stood behind them. She then pointed to her necklace. "See this necklace?" She asked. "My mother gave it to me."
"It's beautiful." He said.
She got a sad expression before she spoke. "I lost my mother in a fire nation raid. This necklace is all I have left of her." She finished looking down, mourning the memory of her parent.
This world had gone through so much, and continued to go through so much because one family fought a war. And for what? To gain power, to further a cause long forgotten? And people just went along with this, allowed cruelty to rain. It was sick, and wrong. It was just so frustrating that this was just allowed to happen.
"It's not enough is it?" Haru asked.
"No." Katara replied softly.
Haru then turned to me. "What about you? You've had that same pained expression on your face while we've been talking. What have you lost?"
I looked down as more memories flashed by. The faces of dead friends, fellow jedi, and the traitor. And yet even among all of these, the person I wondered about the most was my best friend. Callista. She had been on a recon mission that night during the temple. Though the mission was so secret, she couldn't even tell me what planet she had been sent to. Though from what I heard she didn't have any clones with her, thankfully.
Even though she was still just a padawan, she had been entrusted with this mission. She like me, had been gifted with force cloak, but was also far more skilled telepathic uses of the force, she could more easily probe the minds of those nearby, and sense one's emotions. She could always tell what I was thinking. Even when we were just initiates, she could sense what all the other initiates were thinking. The only ones who could hide anything from her, where knights and masters, and that ability only grew as she got older.
Even if she had not been as skilled in the more combative aspects of the force, she was definitely skilled in this, as well as other areas. This almost always made as the perfect team, and also made her the perfect candidate for recon ops.
I missed her greatly. I knew she was still alive though. What most people didn't know was that over the years, me and Callista had formed a force bond, and it was a strong one at that. We could sense each other from a parsec away. Though ever since that night, our bond had become foggy, almost like someone, or something was blocking it. It was still intact however, I could feel that much, and I knew she was alive.
"Jon!?" Katara's sudden shout drew me out of my reverie, as I looked back at them with slight embarrassment. I had allowed my mind to be drawn out of the here and know.
"I'm sorry, I guess I just have a lot on my mind." I then turned to Haru. "And to answer your question, I have lost a lot. Almost everything. But I still hold hope. I have my life, and I have new friends. You must always remember to hold hope, and find something to fight for. For without this, life has no meaning, and one fight is as good as the next."
At my words, Haru became contemplative for a moment, then looked back up to me. "For one as young as you, you hold much wisdom. And I thank you for it." I nod back to him, with a slight smile on my face.
We then got up to walk back to the farm. After a few minutes, we heard a crash, and saw that one of the mines we had been walking by had all of a sudden caved in, with an old man trapped sticking half way through the now closed opening with a panicked expression. "AHH, HELP!"
"The mine!" Haru exclaimed as we ran over to help. The old man continued to plead for help, as we ran to him. Katara tried to pull the man out, as me and Haru attempted to keep more rock from falling on top of him. But unfortunately the man was trapped, and could not be pulled out unless the rock was removed.
"Ahh, it's not working. We have to get help." Katara said.
"We don't have the time to get help. Haru you and I can get him out of this." I said.
"You're an earthbender?" Haru asked amazed.
"Not exactly." I reply. "But I do have the power to help, if you would only earthbend."
"I can't." He replied regretfully.
"Haru, please." Katara pleaded. "There's no one around to see you. It's the only way."
Alright." He finally said with a pained expression. "What do you have in mind."
"I'll lift the rocks, while you push them off of him back down the mine."
"How will you do this if you're not an earthbender?" He asked.
"There's no time to explain. Just trust me." He nodded to me as we both backed up, to give ourselves room. I reached out with as much of the force as I could to lift the rocks. Surprisingly I was able to lift all of the rocks off of him. Then Haru used earthbending to send all of the rocks down the mine shaft.
"Haru, Jon, you did it!" Katara exclaimed, as we went over to pick up the old man, and bring him to safety.
After a few hours, we returned to the farm, where Haru went inside, and me, and Katara, went to the barn to get ready to sleep.
"It was so brave of Haru to use his earthbending, to help the old man." Katara said as we all lay in our respective sleeping spots.
"You must have really inspire him." Aang replied.
"I guess so."
"Everyone should get some sleep. We're leaving at dawn." Sokka pipped in.
"Dawn? Can't we sleep in for once?" Katara asked.
"Absolutely not." Sokka said. "This village is crawling with fire nation troops. If they discover your hear Aang, we'll be eating fireball for breakfast. Good night." Sokka explained.
"He does have a point." I point out. "We're technically in enemy territory. We don't want to risk them getting the drop on us."
"See, Jon agrees with me."
"I'd rather eat fireballs then nuts." Katara responded snidely.
"Good night." Sokka said again, annoyed by his sister.
We all laughed a little at Sokka's annoyance. Then Katara blew out the lantern she had been holding, and we all close our eyes, and go to sleep.
