Sorry for not posting in a while. Been doing other stuff. But here is the next chapter, much longer than the others. Enjoy :D
Chapter 7
"The Airbender Artifacts"
It was a bright and beautiful morning as Kali and Sanyu sat in their camp with their recently cooked breakfast. The two ostrich horses stood along the side of the camp munching on some fruits as Zéi sat on a branch overhead the group, eating some freshly gathered nuts. Sanyu was trying his best to enjoy the food, but unfortunately for both Kali and Sanyu, neither one really knew how to cook besides basic meals. Although the food was not terrible, it wasn't exactly great either.
"It can't be that bad Kali," Sanyu said after looking up and noticing Kali hadn't touched her food.
"Huh?" Kali asked. It took her a few seconds to realize Sanyu had talked. Sanyu realized that she had in fact been gazing at the treetops for quite some time, not saying anything or moving much.
"Is anything wrong?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Kali asked.
"Well, you haven't touched your food, or really moved at all for a little while," Sanyu explained.
"I'm fine, nothing to worry about," Kali said, as she forced some of the food into her mouth to appear that everything was ok.
"I can tell something is wrong Kali," Sanyu said. "You can trust me. That's why we're traveling together." Kali sat for a few seconds, still trying to pretend she was eating, but then just swallowed it and let out a small sigh.
"It's not that I don't trust you," she said. "It's just that I think it's a bit silly."
"What is?"
"Well, I've been thinking about some things," she explained. "It's obvious I'm an airbender, or I wouldn't have been able to do some of those things. But…" Kali shifted her gaze back up at the treetops again. "I just don't understand how it is possible. All the Air Nomads were killed, so how did I survive?"
"Your grandparents could've just fled," Sanyu said. "It wouldn't be that hard."
"I know but…" Kali looked towards the ground. "It's just, the memories I have of when I was younger just don't seem right. Some of these memories, they don't take place in the Fire Nation at all."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the more I think about it, the more it seems that when I was a baby I was at the Air Temples when the Air Nomads were still there," Kali explained.
"But how is that possible?" Sanyu asked. "The Air Nomads were killed a hundred years ago."
"I know…" Kali said. "It's just too confusing. None of this makes sense, but at the same time it seems to fit perfectly." Kali let out a soft sigh. "But I don't know why it matters anyways. I don't know anything about the Air Nomads. I don't even look like one," she said as she glanced down at the old torn and gray clothes she wore. Sanyu sat for a minute staring at her, thinking about what she had said.
"I think I know something that might cheer you up," he finally said.
"What?"
"How about the next town we go into we can try to find you some new clothes," Sanyu explained. "You might not look like an Air Nomad, but at least it's better than what you're wearing." Kali thought about this for a few seconds, and then a small smile came across her face.
"Ok," she said. "I'm up for a little shopping. Never shopped before so maybe it will be fun."
Zin sat upon his bed within his room as the train sped through the Earth Kingdom. He had been going over what had happened through his head ever since he had woken up. How could he, a firebender who had some of the best teachers, who had been training for years, fail to a girl who hardly knew how to bend? He remembered how angry his father was with him, but luckily Zin was not punished. His father knew that it would be best focusing on the girl, but unfortunately for him no one had seen the girl or her friend since they escaped.
Zin continued to sit trying to figure out what he had done wrong to cause him to fail when something finally came to him. Zin glanced over at the candle on the nearby table and remembered what his teacher had said to him.
"Patience; discipline; they are the key to being a good firebender," his master had told Zin. "Overpowering your enemy is sometimes a good course to take, but most times it's best to out skill them."
"But almost everyone I talk to tells me firebending is all about raw power," Zin had protested. "Why should I believe you?"
"Because I am your master, Zin," his master had said. "Firebending is not all raw power, and I am here to show you that."
Zin suddenly stopped his train of thought and jumped to his feet as he finally realized the train was slowing down. He quickly darted out the door and down the hallway. If they had found the girl then he would be able to fix his mistake and make his father proud. As Zin rounded a corner he bumped into his father who was heading in the other direction.
"Why are we slowing down?" Zin asked immediately. "Did you find the girl?"
"Usually when you bump into someone you say 'excuse me,'" Ozen said, giving his son an annoyed look and walking around him. "And no, we haven't found her yet."
"Then why are we stopping?" Zin demanded.
"We are nearing one of the Earth Kingdom towns occupied by the Fire Nation," Ozen explained, not looking back at his son as he walked down the hallway. "We need to resupply before entering enemy territory."
"What?!" Zin shouted. "We can't do that! We'll lose the girl!"
"And what would you have us do?" Ozen asked as he stopped walking. "Chase after her and hope she won't get away again?"
"Of course," Zin replied.
"And what should happen if we fail? We'll be out of supplies and would need to come all the way back to restock. That gives more than enough time for her to flee and for us to lose track of her. You never think these things through, and that is why you failed at capturing her. Now head back to your quarters. I have work to do."
Zin was about to argue back, but decided against it and silently walked away.
It was just after noon as Kali and Sanyu reached the next town. Kali wasted no time in heading to the nearest clothing store. She was eager to finally be able to wear something more suited for her and to discard the ragged garments she had been forced to wear at the orphanage. Kali had been lucky on her choice of stores, and was marveled at how many different types of clothing there could be. She went through every aisle and every self picking out garments she thought might fit her.
After having decided on quite a few different looks, she headed towards one of the booths that lined the back wall. Sanyu and Zéi waited outside as Kali entered one of the booths, hoping to find something that would make her feel more like herself. The first of her outfits was rather plain. It consisted of simple, light green pants and shirt, with a sash tied over the shirt at the waist like a belt. The shoes were a darker green than the rest of the outfit but very simple and plain.
"Well, it's ok…" Kali said. "But I feel like a peasant or farmer. I'll keep looking." She took another one of the outfits in the pile next to Sanyu and headed back into the booth. It took quite a while to change into this outfit because of how complex it was, but she eventually came out of the booth a few minutes later, though barely.
This outfit was a lot more complex than the first had been. It completely covered her, head to toe, in thick metal armor. Spikes shot out from the armor all along her arms and legs, turning even a slight swing of her arm into a deadly attack. Upon her head she wore a helmet, which covered everything except for two slits for her eyes, which gave her a very menacing look. On the top of the helmet two spikes shot out, almost like horns ready to impale the first thing they came in contact with.
"Well, it'll be hard for me to get hurt…" Kali said as she swung one of her arms into the nearby wall. "But it's kind of hard to move in." She tried to take a step forward, but instead fell flat on her face causing the store to rumble with the weight. "Scratch that. It's really hard to move in."
Sanyu quickly bent down to help her back up, but it wasn't such an easy task. Eventually, after much struggling and falling repeatedly, Kali was able to get back into the booth. It took her even longer to get the suit off than it had to put it on, but Kali eventually managed to rip it off. The next outfit she tried on was a lot easier than the last because it had much fewer pieces, but perhaps too few.
"Um…I don't really like this one…" she shouted out to Sanyu from within the booth.
"Well what does it look like?" Sanyu asked. "Let me see."
"Um, I'd rather not," she responded. "It's a bit too revealing."
"It can't be that bad," Sanyu said as he headed towards the booth door. "Let me see."
"No wait!" Before Kali could say another word Sanyu opened the door and looked inside. His mouth instantly gaped as a dazed look came over his face. It took him a few seconds, when Kali finally threw the first outfit at him, for him to come to his senses. He immediately ran out the booth and shut the door behind him, making sure that it was closed.
"Ok, that's a bit too revealing," he said while leaning against the closed door. "You should keep looking."
Kali continued on for quite a while, trying on almost what seemed like every piece of clothing in the store. But unfortunately, when they finally walked out of the store later that day, they were empty-handed.
"We'll try another place," Sanyu reassured Kali. "They've got to have something good in this town."
'Well, it's not that these clothes aren't good…" Kali said, staring slightly at the ground as they walked. "It's just…they're not really good for me."
"What do you mean?"
"All these clothes, they make me feel like some earthbender or mercenary or something," Kali said. "But, none of them make me feel like myself. None of them make me feel like an airbender."
"Airbender?"
Both Kali and Sanyu stopped and turned around to see who this intruder was. Behind them stood an elderly man with a rather shaggy beard and a cane. He quickly limped up to them without even introducing himself and stared Kali in the eyes.
"Did you say airbender?" the man asked.
"Well yea but we're not—"
"You want to know about the tale, don't ya?" the man asked, interrupting Kali.
Kali and Sanyu both glanced at each other. "What tale?" Sanyu asked.
"Well if it's the tale you want to know about then I'm the guy to talk to," the old man said. "You see that there building in the hills?" Kali and Sanyu quickly turned around to see where the man was pointing to. Off in the distance set into the hill was what appeared to be a large metal building. From what the two could see, it seemed to be abandoned, maybe even falling apart.
"That there is an old Fire Nation base," the old man continued. "Used to be full of soldiers a while back."
"What happened to it?" Kali asked.
"About fourteen years ago some crates came through here on the way to the Fire Nation full of airbender artifacts. Gliders, clothes, scrolls, and stuff I don't even know what to call. They were kept up there for a few days so the soldiers could rest. Well, when they were getting ready to leave they noticed something shocking: some of the artifacts were missing! I'm not sure what, maybe some map or something, but the important thing is that they were gone!
"Well, the soldiers searched throughout the entire base but they couldn't find any trace of the missing artifacts. Instead they found something much worse." The old man suddenly stopped talking and glanced around. He leaned in close to the two before speaking again: "Airbender ghosts. Chased all the soldiers right out of the building. They fled town and never came back. Those artifacts are still up there, waiting for someone foolish enough to go get em."
"What's going on here?" a voice suddenly intruded. Kali and Sanyu looked around the elderly man to see an elderly woman standing in the doorway of one of the buildings. "Are you blabbing about those stupid stories again?" she asked.
"They aren't stupid!" the man retorted. "They're one hundred percent true!"
"Everyone knows it was a cave in that chased those soldiers out," the woman said. "Not some stupid ghosts. And there are no artifacts still in there. They took everything."
"Well who asked you? Maybe if I'm lucky the ghosts will come and take your voice away. Then maybe I could get some silence!"
"Go crawl up in a hole and die you old geezer!" the old woman yelled before turning around and heading back into the building.
"Not before you, you old hag!" the old man yelled after her.
"Wow you two must really hate each other," Sanyu said.
"Hate each other?" the old man repeated, seemingly outraged. "What are you talking about? That's my wife! Speaking of which, I'm late for dinner." Without saying even as much as a goodbye, the old man turned around and walked into the same building the woman had emerged from a few minutes earlier.
"Well that was weird," Sanyu said after a few moments of silence. He turned to Kali expecting a reply but instead saw a smile slowly creep across her face. "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" he said nervously.
"We're going to get those artifacts," Kali said, the smile still wide on her face.
"But you heard what he said," Sanyu protested. "All of them were taken when the Fire Nation left."
"We don't know that for sure," Kali said. "The man was convinced they were still there. And if they are this can really help me."
"But if they aren't we could risk a lot," Sanyu said. "Remember, we have a Fire Nation General chasing us. If we waste too much time they could catch up to us and I don't want to know what will happen then."
"I suppose you're right," Kali said with a sigh as she looked up at the abandoned base. "We better get going. It's starting to get dark."
Zin lay on his bed staring at the ceiling as he had been all day since the train had stopped. He couldn't believe that he was stuck here wasting time when he could be out there searching for the girl and proving he was worth something. He didn't want to spend time in some stupid Earth Kingdom town and had remained in his room the entire time, and he planned to stay there until they left. Well that was until a knock came from the other side of his door.
"What do you want?" Zin shouted through the door. "I'm busy!"
"Ozen has requested you to leave the train for the remainder of our stay," a voice said from the other side.
"What?!" Zin shouted as he jumped to his feet. "Why?"
"Ozen has asked us to clean the train during our stay, and he doesn't wish for you to be on board while we are cleaning," the voice explained.
Zin was about to protest saying that he wouldn't leave the train despite who gave the orders, but a thought suddenly occurred to him and his hand crept up to his scar. "All right," he eventually said, though very displeased. He flung on his cloak and slammed open the door, throwing the soldier behind it to the floor. Zin walked past without even a glance at the soldier and headed out towards the town.
Zin really didn't care enough to take in the scenery of the town, probably due to the fact that he was being forced to come here. All he cared about was finding some place he could stay and maybe eat where he would go almost completely unnoticed. Eventually, after quite a bit of searching, he found such a place. It was a small building situated on the corner of two streets. Zin walked inside and was immediately greeted by the smells of many different types of food and drinks.
The tavern gave off a gloomy mood, as if this was the place all those who did not want to be seen ended up. There were people everywhere at tables and counters, but due to the dim lighting it was rather hard to make out any distinct facial features unless one was close up. Zin headed through the bar searching for a place where he could remain unseen for the remainder of his stay until he finally decided on a small empty table in the back.
He stayed there for quite a while, doing his best to go unnoticed, but it was getting harder and harder over time. The smells of the many different kinds of food continued to drift over to him, teasing him and making him hungrier by every second that passed. Eventually he couldn't take it anymore, and he had to have something, anything, to satisfy his hunger. He headed up towards the front, weaving through the tables and people until he came to the front counter.
Surprisingly enough, despite the number of people within the building there were only a few that were actually ordering things. As Zin had watched from his table, he noticed that people only trickled up little by little, not wanting to risk a large crowd. In front of him stood a young girl, maybe even the same age as Zin, but he was unable to tell due the dim lighting and the fact that she was facing away from him. He waited for her to finish, growing more and more impatient by the second. In fact, because of how impatient he had gotten, when the girl finally got her order and was turning around to leave Zin did not waste time in trying to step around her and to the counter.
Unfortunately it didn't go quite as Zin planned. As he stepped forward to walk around her, she was also trying to do the same, and this caused both of them to collide. The tray the girl was carrying was instantly squished against her chest, covering her front in the food she just bought a minute earlier. Zin did not get out of this so easy either, as the drink sitting atop the try tilted towards him and covered his front with its contents.
"Hey! Watch where you're going you jerk1" the girl shouted at Zin. "I just bought that!"
"You bumped into me you stupid girl!" Zin argued. "You watch where you're going!"
"This was your fault, not mine!" the girl protested. "And you're going to repay me for this or else!"
"Or else what? You'll slap me?" Zin insulted as he gave the girl a small push. She stumbled back a bit but quickly caught her balance, but not before she had stepped into the lamplight which showed her features quite clearly.
"You!" Zin said, after finally realizing who she was and stepping into the light too.
"Well look who it is," the girl said, after seeing who Zin was. "Never expected to see you here brother. Did dad finally throw you out on the street?"
"No, I'm here with him!" Zin told his sister. Now that she was in the light it was much easier to make out her appearance. She was almost as tall as Zin, but came up just a bit short due to Zin's unusually tall stature. She had gold eyes normal to someone of Fire Nation heritage, with shoulder length hair that curved ever so slightly at the end. She wore a short-sleeved red shirt covered by a black and gold stripped vest which only hooked together once in the area near her belly. Her pants were simple too, being a dark maroon that matched her shirt with a few black and gold strips running along the legs.
"Let me guess, dad is still more interested in that stupid orphan than he is about finding mom," the girl said.
"That girl is an airbender, and she is the key to finding mom!" Zin argued.
"You actually believe that nonsense?" the girl asked. "Don't you get it already? Dad lied. He doesn't care about mom, you, me, or anyone. This girl has nothing to do with finding mom and you're wasting your time."
"He cares about us and would do anything to protect us!" Zin protested. "Maybe if you didn't betray him he would be looking for you too!"
"Oh right, and it was the Earth Kingdom that started the war, not the Fire Nation," the girl said sarcastically. "He's just keeping you around to use you and then get rid of you when he doesn't need you anymore. You're just too stupid and weak to figure that out on your own." She turned around and started to walk away from her brother. "I'm out of here," she said. "This is just wasting time and I'm still hungry."
"If you think I'm so weak then maybe you should fight me so I can prove you wrong!" Zin said as the girl walked away.
The girl stopped in her tracks and glanced over her shoulder at Zin. "Is that a challenge?" she asked mockingly.
"Yes," Zin said. "I challenge you, Rose, to an Agni Kai."
"You really can't be that stupid, can you brother?" Rose said with a small laugh in her voice. "You've never beaten me in a fight before. There's no way you'll win."
"We'll see about that," Zin said. "We'll do it right now outside."
"We'll fight tonight," Rose said. "I still haven't eaten and I think you forgot that I get to choose when and where we fight." Rose turned around and headed for the door. "Edge of town after dark. Try not to chicken out." She walked out the door as Zin stared after her, anger showing rather obviously in his face.
"You going to buy something or not?" asked the guy at the counter behind Zin.
"Yea," Zin said, turning around to face the man. "Give me whatever she had."
The wind blew gently and the stars glistened as the twilight sky shown over the land. The large metal building loomed over the land, casting an eerie shadow across the ground. It was a rather old, rundown building due it being abandoned for almost fourteen years. Though it was quite easy to see that it was rundown from the outside, it was difficult to tell how rundown it was due to most of it being built inside the hill. Kali stood outside the building, gazing up at the structure and trying to bring up the courage to step inside.
Although she had told Sanyu that she would forget about the airbender artifacts, Kali still could not resist coming here to see if they really existed. After Sanyu had fallen asleep she left the camp and quietly headed towards the old Fire Nation base. She still wasn't quite sure what she would find here or how to even find it for that matter, but she knew that she had to at least try. Kali continued to walk up towards the large building wondering what would be inside when suddenly she heard a ruffle in the bushes nearby.
"Who's there?" she said as she turned towards the bushes. For a few moments nothing happened, but as Kali started turn away something suddenly darted out of the bush. Kali stumbled back onto the ground as she was caught off guard as Zéi ran up her arm and sat on her shoulder.
"That wasn't a very nice thing to do," Kali said as she looked at Zéi. Zéi's head and ears sagged a bit in response but perked upward again when a smile appeared on Kali's face.
"It's ok," she said as she petted his head. "I know you didn't mean it. And now I get some company."
Kali walked up the front path towards the entrance as Zéi huddled on her shoulder. As the two neared the building it was evident as to how far into disrepair it was. The metal of the walls was so rusted it appeared as if the building was hardly holding itself together. Holes had appeared within the walls with small pieces of metal falling off bit by bit as the wind blew through. Even the door felt like it was ready to fall off its hinges, or completely shatter on the spot, as Kali entered.
"So what took you so long?" a voice suddenly said as Kali closed the door. Kali immediately jumped as she heard the voice and fell backwards into the door. Unfortunately for her the door was not nearly able to support to her weight and broke off its hinges on the impact.
"Oh sorry," Sanyu said as he got up with a torch in his right hand.
"I'm ok," Kali said, but just as she finished talking a large piece of the wall broke off and fell on top of her. "Ok, not so much now."
It took a few minutes, but Sanyu, with some help from Zéi, was able to clear the debris off Kali and get her in a sitting position. As Kali sat rubbing her head Sanyu crouched down to see if she was hurt.
"Everything ok?" he asked sounding concerned.
"I'm fine," Kali said as she got up. "Just please remind me next time it's Scare Kali Day."
"What?"
"Never mind," she said. "What are you doing here?"
"You really thought I would believe you wouldn't come up here?" Sanyu said jokingly. "I never went to sleep. When you got up and left I just followed you."
"You didn't have to do this Sanyu," Kali said with a smile on her face. "There's probably nothing in here to worry about."
"I just wanted to make sure that you would be ok," Sanyu explained. "I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to you and I wasn't there to help."
"Well then let's stop wasting our time here," Kali said. "We have some artifacts to find."
As Sanyu held up the torch above his head the two headed down into the base, through the hallways that twisted and turned everywhere, or just continued straight on into the darkness as if disappearing into nothingness. Shortly after entering, the metal floors and ceiling disappeared and were replaced by packed earth indicating that they were descending into the mountain. Oddly enough, although the floor and ceiling turned to earth the walls still remained fully metal.
"This place looks really old," Sanyu said as he looked around. "I'm surprised it's still holding itself together. Maybe we should find a safer way to go through."
"It doesn't look too bad," Kali said, glancing over her shoulder as she walked. "Down here hasn't rusted as much, and if anything happens you can still earthbend us out." But just as Kali finished that sentence the floor below her gave way. As soon as the ground broke Zéi jumped off of Kali's shoulder and landed on the floor next to Sanyu. Kali wasn't able to respond quickly enough and started to plummet towards the darkness below, but luckily for her Sanyu had seen it coming a second earlier.
Sanyu quickly responded, moving his body and bending some of the earth in the floor surrounding the hole to just barely catch Kali. She landed hard on the platform Sanyu had bended out, but it was greatly softer than what it would have been if Kali had continued to fall through the hole.
"Are you ok?" Sanyu asked as stepped down to help his friend up. But Kali wasn't paying attention to what he was saying because she was too busy looking down the hole. Below the hallway the two were in lay another hallway, almost identical to the one above in direction and size, except for one key element. While the metal walls of the hallway they were currently in were plain, simple, and flat, the walls of the hallway below were covered with decorations and designs giving the impression that it was of some great importance.
"Can you make a stairway down there?" Kali asked Sanyu.
"What?"
"That hallway looks really important," Kali explained. "It probably leads to where the artifacts are."
After Sanyu had helped Kali up and made sure she wasn't hurt he bended up the ground from the hall below into steps. The two descended down towards the level below and continued their journey for the artifacts. Surprisingly, although the only difference between the hall they had left and the hall they were in now was the wall design, this current hall felt much more ominous and disturbing than the last.
But with each step Kali took down the hall she felt closer and closer to the goal which she desired to reach so much. The more that they walked, the more anxious she got as she felt they were nearing their target with every step. She was so anxious that as they reached the next corner Kali was almost certain that around the other side lay the treasure the two had come here for. But as they rounded the corner and she saw what lay there her heart immediately sank. The entire hallway ahead of the two was completely blocked by a cave in. Enormous stones obstructed the way ahead, making it impossible to pass through. Kali walked up towards the pile of stones and inspected it, then turned around to face her friend.
"Think you can clear the way?" she asked. Sanyu walked up to the stones next to Kali and placed his hand upon them. He stood inspecting for a few moments with his eyes closed, looking as if he was trying to sense the rock.
"I'm not too good at this," he said sheepishly. "But, if I'm right, this is supporting the entire ceiling here. If I try to move these the whole ceiling might collapse on us."
"We already came this far," Kali said as she let out a frustrated groan. "There has to be some way around this."
"Sorry but I don't think there's anything I can do," Sanyu said. Kali leaned up against the wall trying to think of something, anything, to do but nothing came to her. They had not seen any doorways or other hallways on their way down so there didn't appear to be any other way around this blockade. She eventually became frustrated and due to her frustration banged her fist against the metal wall she leaned upon.
"Owwww," she said as she waved her hand in pain. "Ok, punching a metal wall is not a good idea."
Unfortunately things were going to get worse than she anticipated. The wall shook quite a bit as soon as Kali slammed her fist on it, with the noise echoing throughout the hall. It had taken a few moments but shortly after cracks started to form in the ceiling above the two and small stones started to fall down. Before Kali and Sanyu could react the entire ceiling started to crumble down upon them. As the ceiling fell down upon the two, the floor beneath them instantly opened up and Kali, Sanyu, and Zéi fell into the hole on to what appeared to be rock slide tunneling down into the earth. Down and down the two went just barely able to see from the flickering torchlight until they were finally spewed out onto a hard rock floor.
"Thanks for saving us Sanyu, but do you think you could have made the landing a bit softer?" Kali asked sarcastically. She slowly got up, making sure she wasn't hurt in the process, and looked around at where they had landed. They were in a large room, apparently very deep underground due to how far they fell. It appeared to be about two stories tall and spanning almost twice as long. It had the same metal wall, earth floor and ceiling makeup as the walls had been, except for a small hole in the metal from which the tunnel had spit them out. About one story off the ground a metal walkway was attached to the wall, spanning the outline of the room. What was probably the eeriest aspect of this room was that, although they appeared to be the only beings present, the large torches that spanned the walls, both at the first story and second story, were lit with a dim light.
"Um, Kali," Sanyu started to say as he slowly got up and stared around the room in awe. "I didn't do that."
"What?" Kali asked in shock. "How could anyone else have done that? We're the only ones here."
"I don't know, but this is starting to get creepy. I'm starting to think we shouldn't have come here."
"We can't leave yet Sanyu," Kali protested. "We've come too far to turn back now. And look." Sanyu quickly turned to see Kali pointing down towards the other side of the room. Along the wall on the opposite end of the room stood a large metal door, closed shut to hide what was inside. About halfway up the door a large dragon's head was shaped into the metal, surrounded by a majestic pattern.
"If that isn't it, then we must be pretty close," Kali said as she started walking the span of the room towards the door. But as Sanyu quickly followed Kali towards the door they both were completely unaware of the large figure that had appeared behind them. A figure which appeared to be entirely made of stone…
The moon shown down upon the town as Zin walked towards the outskirts. He was not sure where they were supposed to fight because he had only been told to meet at the edge of town. As he headed towards the outskirts of the town, he noticed something rather odd. Slightly off from the side of town within the tall grass there appeared to be a rather large clearing. As Zin moved towards it, he was surprised to see that this odd clearing was about the size of one of the buildings in town, and odder still it appeared to be in the shape of a rectangle. As he inspected this area he noticed that in addition to it being a perfect rectangle it was also very flat. He knew this must have been designed for some purpose but what that purpose was he could not figure out.
"Thought you weren't going to show up," said a female voice from behind. Zin immediately turned around on the spot to see Rose standing right behind him.
"What is this place?" Zin demanded.
"It's a fighting arena," Rose said as she walked around Zin. "I thought that was kind of obvious. People and soldiers in this town use it to train or fight duels. Thought it would be a good place for us to have an Agni Kai."
"Well what are you waiting for?" Zin said. "Get this started so I can beat you!"
"You were always so impatient," Rose said as she walked onto the end of the clearing. "That's why you never beat me."
"I would've beaten you last time."
"And then you fell off the platform and into a cart full of egg custard tart," Rose said with a smirk. "Too bad too."
"Yea, because I would've beaten you if the duel continued," Zin said.
"Oh no, I was talking about the egg custard tart," Rose said. "That stuff's good. You know how much I like foreign food."
"Stop talking and let's start this duel," Zin said impatiently as he headed towards the opposite side of the clearing, immediately getting into a fighting stance as he arrived. As Zin showed he was obviously ready, Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out a small hourglass.
"When this runs out we begin," she said, turning it over to allow some of the sand to fall towards the other side. When enough of it had fallen, she turned it back over again and placed it on the ground. The two watched intensely as the sand trickled down through the tiny hole and into the bottom. What angered Zin quite a bit was that Rose seemed to be taking this whole fight lightly, as if it was nothing, but he will prove her wrong. He knew he would win.
And then the sand ran out. Zin didn't wait one bit before attacking. He instantly shot forward sending a fire blast in Rose's direction. Rose immediately reacted by ducking and rolling out of the way as if it was nothing. Zin kept shooting out blast after blast towards Rose but none of them hit for she was able to anticipate each one. With each blast that Rose dodged, the angrier Zin got.
"Why won't you fight back?!" he yelled at her.
"I've fought you enough times to know I don't need to," Rose explained. "You'll just keep trying to hit me carelessly and get tired, and then I can just push you over."
"You think I'm so predictable?" Zin asked. "Take a look at this." Zin shot forward again, but instead of sending a blast at Rose like he had been doing so far, he instead aimed his attack at the ground. His fight with Kali had taught him this move, and he was slowly starting to realize how useful it might be. Immediately the ground ahead of him was washed over by a wave of fire, traveling away from him and heading towards Rose. Although she was not expecting an attack like this, she was still able to react in time and jump up and over the wave before it reached her. Unfortunately she wasn't so lucky when she landed.
As Rose's feet hit the ground, Zin shot another fire blast at her without hesitation. Caught off guard from the wave Zin had just sent out, she wasn't able to avoid the entire blast. She dodged out of the way of the blast, just barely able to keep her balance as the edges of her clothes were singed.
"I see you've learned some new tricks," she said. "So have I." As Rose regained her balance, she finally struck back at Zin. Instead of using the aggressive fire blasts that her brother was attacking with, Rose instead attacked in a somewhat different manner.
Rose quickly slashed her arm upwards in Zin's direction, sending a thin but strong line of fire towards Zin. Zin was easily able to dodge for it was not too wide, but Rose kept sending these strips of fire towards Zin. What made it hard for Zin to avoid these was not that they were large, for although they were long they were also rather thin. Instead, what made it hard for him to avoid these attacks was that Rose kept sending them towards him and at different angles. He was able to dodge many of them but a few of them still cut across the edges of his body.
Zin knew that he couldn't keep this up for he was getting rather tired so as he dodged the latest strip he shot out a fire wave towards Rose. She was barely able to dodge it but instead of attacking again Zin ran up towards her and aimed a close up blast towards the tip of her head. Caught off guard and off balance she was just barely able to avoid the blast, but because she hadn't regained her footing she stumbled and landed flat on her back. As soon as she fell Zin ran up towards her and prepared to claim his victory. Unfortunately for Zin, Rose was just able to recover fast enough to strike back.
As Zin ran up towards Rose's fallen body, she quickly adjusted all her weight to her hands and spun her legs around her while hitting Zin's ankles in the process. The impact caused him to quickly lose his footing and fall over as well. Rose immediately jumped back up and regained her stance, and before Zin could even attempt to get back up she was standing over him with her fist aimed at his face.
"You are getting better," Rose said as she lowered her fist and reached out her hand to help her brother up. "But I still win again."
Instead of taking Rose's hand Zin batted it out of the way and got up on his own. "You got lucky," he said, brushing himself off. "I'll win next time."
"Not if you don't realize that being aggressive isn't the best thing to do," Rose said. "I'm starting to think it's never going to get through that head."
"Just go," Zin said as he started to walk away. "I need to get back to the train so dad and I can go back to trying to find mom. I don't think he would want a traitor like you coming."
"Oh I wouldn't be too sure," a voice suddenly said from the edge of the clearing. Zin and Rose immediately turned in the direction to see Ozen walk up towards them.
"Excellent fight," he said to Rose. "You are becoming quite skilled."
"What do you want?" Rose snapped at her father. "Come to tell me some more lies so I'll do everything you say?"
"Oh no, my daughter," Ozen said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here to ask for your help."
"I'm not going to help someone like you," Rose said, pushing his hand off her shoulder. "Just leave me alone so I can find mom."
"But that is exactly what we are doing," Ozen told Rose. "The girl, Kali, is the key to finding you mother. If we can catch her we will know how to get to your mother."
"How could some girl help us find mom?" Rose asked.
"There is something inside of her," Ozen explained. "Something powerful. And if we can get that power out of the girl, then we use it to find your mother."
"And then what? Use it to rule the world?"
"All I care about is finding your mother," Ozen said. "You have my word that it is the only use the power will see in my hands."
Rose hesitated before speaking again, not sure about what to think. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked.
"I love your mother, and I will do anything to find her," Ozen said. "You two and she are all that I care about."
Rose stood staring at her father but did not answer. Although her doubts were big, she could still not resist the chance that he could be telling the truth. "Fine," she eventually said. "What do you want me to do?"
As Kali and Sanyu headed towards the closed door, they were completely unaware of the shadowy figure that had appeared behind them. In fact it would have been quite some time before they would have noticed it if it wasn't for Zéi. As Sanyu and Kali headed towards the door Zéi, who was back on Kali's shoulder, suddenly turned around and let out a loud shriek. Kali and Sanyu immediately turned around to see what the problem was and were shocked at what they saw.
Walking towards them from the other side of the room was what appeared to be a very large man. What was more shocking was that this man was made completely out of stone from head to foot. The stone man moved towards them at a surprisingly fast pace and Sanyu and Kali had barely any time at all to prepare as the figure closed the distance between it and them. Before the two could realize it the stone man was right in front of them and he wasted no time in attacking. He immediately swung his arm out at Kali, throwing her into the air towards the side of the room. Luckily for her she was able to land without much harm due to her airbending.
"How many times am I going to fall on my butt today?" Kali said sarcastically as she got up.
As soon as Kali was flung away the stone man focused on Sanyu. The stone man swung towards Sanyu but he was able to block it by bending a wall in front of him. Unfortunately, the stone man easily broke through the wall with another swing of its fist. This continued, with the stone man sending blow after blow and Sanyu just barely being able to block them with his earthbending, but that luck wouldn't last. As Sanyu bended up another wall the stone man threw a punch hard enough that it shattered the wall and threw Sanyu back. The stone man then charged at Sanyu ready to strike again while Sanyu was down.
Before the stone man was able to land another punch Kali came rushing over again, diving at Sanyu and pushing him out of the way of the blow. She then turned around as they landed on the ground and shot a gust of air at the stone man but it was too heavy to be affected by the air. As the stone man sent another punch down at them Sanyu quickly reacted, but instead of making another wall to block the punch he bended the earth of the stone man's fist. As the fist was about to hit Kali it suddenly exploded away from her and back towards the stone man, shattering into little pebbles.
While the stone man was temporarily disabled Kali quickly ran out of the way with Zéi but Sanyu stayed instead of moving. Sanyu shot out his fist at the stone man again and the center of his body shattered out through the back. The stone man immediately crumbled down to the ground as Sanyu and Kali got back up but unfortunately they weren't able to celebrate their victory. As soon as the stone man crumbled down it started to reform again rather quickly. Before the two could react to this new danger the stone man once again flung Kali into the air. Instead of landing on the ground as she had before she landed on the metal walkway attached to the wall, using her airbending to prevent her harm.
Kali watched as Sanyu fought the strange being, all the while trying frantically to think of how to defeat it. There had to be something causing this even if it was a spirit. She looked around the room hastily hoping that something would give her a clue on how to defeat this being, and luckily for her she found something. Farther down along the metal walkway stood a dark figure hidden partially in the shadows. What made this figure different than the stone man below was that this shadowy figure appeared to be human. Not only that, but as Kali watched his movements and the movements of the stone man she saw that this shadowy figure appeared to be the one controlling, in fact bending, the stone man.
Kali didn't waste any time in deciding what to do. Unwilling to risk Sanyu any longer she darted down the walkway towards the man. As she neared the man he finally noticed her coming and started to turn to fight her but Kali was able to react before the man. Before the man could fully realize what was going on Kali shot out a gust of wind towards him, blowing him up and back into the wall following with him falling over the edge of the walkway. As the man fell to the ground Kali jumped off of the walkway and down to the ground below.
Immediately the stone man crumbled to the ground completely lifeless. Sanyu was completely clueless as to what had happened and looked around the room for answers. It wasn't until he saw Kali standing over a man against the wall that he understood. Sanyu quickly rushed over, pulling up a rock from the ground and aiming it at the fallen person.
"Alright alright, I give up," the man said as he straightened into a sitting position. He was a rather old man, with a large bald spot on his head and the hair he did have flying around everywhere. He was wearing old, dirty brown clothes and despite his age seemed rather fit.
"Why did you attack us?" Sanyu asked.
"Well a man has to protect his own life," the man answered. "So you're going to kill me now?"
"What?" Kali asked, shocked. "Why would we kill you?"
"Well isn't that why you're here?" the man asked. "Weren't you sent by the Fire Nation to kill whatever was causing the problems in here?"
"Um, no," Kali said. "Wait, you mean you caused everything here?"
"Of course I did," the man said as he stood. "Name's Han. I single handedly drove the Fire Nation out of here by making them think this place was infested with ghosts."
Kali and Sanyu both looked at each other and back at Han with complete surprise. "Wait a second," Sanyu eventually said. "That was fourteen years ago. Why are you still here?"
"'Cause I live here," Han answered. "Place kind of grew on me so I never left. So if you're not here to kill me then what do you want?"
"Oh, well um, you wouldn't happen to know where those old airbender relics from the stories are, would you?" Kali asked.
"Of course," answered Han. "They're right behind that door." Han pointed down towards the dragon faced door at the end of the room. A smug look appeared on Kali's face after hearing this information. Kali started to walk towards the door but Han stuck out a hand in front of her.
"You wouldn't happen to be grave robbers, would you?" he asked suspiciously.
"What? No," Kali said, suddenly getting a bit nervous. Even though she was telling the truth, she still wasn't sure how this man would react if she told him she was an airbender. Han leaned in towards her, as if inspecting her or expecting her to do something strange.
"You're an airbender, aren't you?" he eventually asked after pulling away.
"Um, well yea."
"Then from what I see that stuff is rightfully yours," he said after a moment.
"Really? You mean it?"
"Of course," answered Han. "Wait here." As soon as Han said that he headed down towards the dragon headed door. With a simple turn of the knob the door opened and he disappeared inside. About a minute later Han reemerged with a large crate in his hands and a staff under his arm.
"Here you go," he said as he handed the crate and staff to Kali who took it earnestly. "Clothes, bending scrolls, and staff."
"Thanks," Kali said, looking eagerly down at the crate. "And um, you don't mind if we ask for one more favor, do you?"
"Go ahead. What do you need?"
"Well, we're kind of lost and don't know our way back out," Kali explained. "Do you think you could…?"
"Sure thing," Han answered. He immediately slammed his foot on the ground and directly following his action a large hole opened up in a break in the metal wall. Inside was a small staircase slowly ascending into the dark. Han led them into this staircase, and after some time walking a hole emerged on the hillside and they walked out.
"You don't seem surprised at all about meeting an airbender," Sanyu said as they walked out.
"I've lived a long time," Han said. "Trust me when I say this is one of the least surprising things I have seen."
"Thanks again for your help," Kali said. "But one thing I don't understand is why did you save our lives and then attack us right after?"
"Save your lives?" Han asked, confused. "When did I save your lives?"
"When you made the hole below us to save us from the cave in," Kali said. "You were the one that did that weren't you?"
"I didn't even know you were in here until you stumbled into the room we fought in," Han answered.
"But if you didn't do it then who…" Suddenly without warning the hole leading to the staircase was bended shut without any sign of who did it.
"You know, I'm getting kind of tired of living in there," Han said hastily as he started to run downhill. "I'm heading back to town!"
"Hey!" Sanyu shouted, now running even faster than Han. "Wait for me!"
With the two of them gone Kali and Zéi looked back down at where the entrance had been. "We don't have to worry," Kali told Zéi. "There's nothing there that will hurt us." But as she stared at the closed hole she started to have second thoughts.
"But just to be safe we should go back to town too," she said, and started running down to where Sanyu and Han went.
Next chapter: A Rose With Thorns
