Quick note before we get into the action: sorry about the extremely long hiatus guys! school was kind of kicking my ass a lot, and depression didn't help. Don't worry about that though, I'm over the depression stage for awhile, hopefully, and a manic one is setting in, let the energy cometh! back to the action!
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"Could you go any slower?" Jayla half whispered half shouted to the trailing Azar behind Xeren and herself.
"Lay off, these boots, contrary to what some people think, were not made for walking.
"Whatever, just don't get lost. Nasty things live in these forests, if I remember correctly." As if to accentuate the young avatar's words, an unknown beast growled in the distance, spurring the prince to catch up to his friends.
"How far away is your farm anyway? we've been walking for like, ever." Azar questioned Jayla, his feet really beginning to ache in his lavish, yet counter functional boots. As if to answer his question, Jayla came to a sudden halt at the forest edge, holding up a hand motioning for the other two to stop, Azar running into said hand.
"Shush Princess" the avatar said, observing the now flat treeless landscape before them. "This is good, we're close to my old family's farm, that's old man Jameson's place over there," she pointed to an old farmhouse situated close to some wheat fields nearby, "our place is about three, maybe four miles away now. From what rumors I heard back at the camp, equalist patrols aren't very busy near here, as they think they've got it secured and bender-free. The roads should be safe. Xeren, can you move three people somewhat quietly and quickly with earth bending? Do you have the energy?" Giving a grin and a nod Xeren rose a platform of earth from the ground in the road, and stepped on.
"I've enough for a mile or five, yeah. All aboard the dirt express." Xeren motioned for his companions to get on, raising a small wall around the edge to contain his passengers. "I must remind all passengers to keep all limbs and orifices inside the ride at all times, and-"
"Get on with it dude." Azar urged, grimacing slightly at the orifice part.
"As you wish your highness." Xeren grinned, cracking his knuckles and lowering his damaged goggles over his eyes. Thrusting his arms forward, the trio sped off down the road.
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Half an our of so of speeding down the road in their earthen vehicle, Xeren standing at the front steering them, Jayla next to him to co-pilot, and Azar sitting in the back holding on for dear life, not used to such forms of transport. "There!" Jayla shook Xeren, who had gone into a bending auto-pilot on the straight road, and pointed at a Small farmhouse and a barn, surrounded by dilapidated and neglected fields. The makeshift vehicle, sliding to a half, then collapsing back into the earth.
"I'm gonna need another nap. And some food, food is good. I like food." Xeren muttered, as the last of his earthen transport sank back into the ground. The trio walked, again led by Jayla down the road to the house ahead of them. Jayla walked up to the sturdy wooden door, and tried the knob.
"locked, as expected," Jayla huffed, "and I'd rather not break it down, cause one: my house, and two: even if regular patrols don't come through, convoys most likely come past getting cargo from the farms, and they may notice a broken down door."
"Not a problem, don't worry your pretty scarlet head." Xeren gently pushed his friend away from the door, and bent down to examine the lock on the knob. Finding one of the sturdier metal clasps on his belt, Xeren extracted some makeshift lock picking tools from it with metal bending. After a few minutes of cursing and probing the lock, the door swung open with a satisfying click and a grinning sand bender. Jayla led them inside and secured the door behind them.
"Okay, food first. I'm sure you guys are as hungry as I am, if not more." Jayla said, examining the relatively untouched yet dust covered interior of her home. Good thing father and I were in the fields when they cam, Jayla thought, equalists wouldn't take a benders things lest they be tainted somehow.
"I thought you told us you were taken from here like ten years ago and the fields aren't exactly producing much, how will there be any good food?" Azar questioned.
"Stuff in the cellar, assuming we preserved them right, should be good. Besides, haven't you ever hear about archeologists eating preserved honey and crap from old sun warrior ruins? Those are thousands of years old, this is only ten or twelve at most. Come on, there's an entrance in the cupboard area." The trio went down into the cellar, using the oil lamp and Azar's flames as light. Jayla pointed out some corned and salted meats that still smelled edible.
"I'll poke around for anything else, if that's ok." Xeren offered as Azar took the crate of preserved meat and followed Jayla upstairs.
"Yeah, that's cool. We'll get this cooking upstairs. Don't be too long." Jayla replied to the sand bender.
Jayla led Azar into the kitchen area and motioned for him to light a few of the lamps in there, after he had set the meats on the counter. "Ah, shit, the striker on the stove is busted. I always told dad we should have set the place up with electricity." The redhead cursed as she fiddled with the wood burning stove.
"Don't worry, fire bender here, remember? Xeren's not the only one with helpful tricks," Azar started, flicking a spark from his fingers and starting the stove ablaze, "no matter how much you flirt with him."
Jayla took a pan from a cabinet and leaned against the counter, looking at the prince. "Is it that obvious? I mean.."
"To me? Yes, very. To him? No. Not even with how much he's flirting back. I've not known our goofy timelord for long, but I can tell enough about him that he's oblivious to these things, and hasn't seen a girl like you in his life. That being not as dull as the desert he grew up in, not that he sees it that way probably. You're new to him, he's very excitable, and honestly you two wouldn't be bad together." Azar offered back.
"I don't know… Just don't tell him. Okay? And if you try and play matchmaker, I swear." Jayla said half threatening half joking, a hidden fire in her emerald eyes.
"I won't, I promise." Azar said holding his hands up in mock defense. "A fire prince is only as good as his word."
As if to diffuse the tension, Xeren's head poked out of the cellar entrance, an excitable look on his face. "Jayla! You have, like… Three barrels of pickles down here! Three! Pickles! I love pickles!"
"I can tell." Jayla replied, the soft smile returning to her freckled face.
"Pickles are nice." Azar chuckled "Let me help you get a barrel up here Xer, shall we?" Xeren nodded excitedly, heading back into the cellar. While the boys brought the barrel of preserved cucumbers up, Jayla set to work frying the whatever kind of preserved meat had been brought up. Though it wasn't an extremely fancy meal, Pickles and meat certainly beat the coarse bread they had been fed for the past week, and for Jayla ten years. After eating their fill, they started on sleeping arrangements. Azar opted to set up a spare futon in the entryway, saying neither of the others were fit for guard duty, what with the weakened state Jayla was in from the camps, and how exhausted Xeren still was from his rampage and getting them there.
"I suppose you can sleep in my room, and I'll take my sister's. I don't think I can go into my parents room right now." Jayla sat on her bed, after leading Xeren down the hall. "Oh, Spirits…" Jayla whispered, tears coming to her eyes as the gravity of her situation fully started setting in. She felt Xeren sit beside her, and his arms wrap around her body in a soft embrace.
"Hey now, it'll be ok, we'll make it. We have friends now. Never really had friends before. S'nice." Xeren whispers reassuringly to Jayla, she softly sobbing into his shoulder. Sensing she would be done anytime soon, Xeren returned the favor for what she did in the cave, laying her down on the bed, and her head in his lap. After she had settled down a bit, Xeren made to get up and go to her sisters room instead, seeing she probally didn't want to get up again.
"Wait… Xeren?"
"Hmm?"
"Stay?" Jayla asked softly. "Please?" Xeren looked back at her emerald eyes, still wet with tears threatening to shed again Xeren offered a small smile back, shifting into a half laying half sitting position, putting some pillows behind him.
"Sure, I'll stay. How can I not?" Xeren reassured to the girl now half laying on him, as she drifted off, succumbing to ten years of weariness, just now showing.
"Thanks" She offered, as she slipped into restful sleep.
"Anytime" Xeren mumbled back, feeling a yawn growing in his throat. He saw the sun just peeking over the horizon through the window, just as his own eyes started sliding shut.
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End note: again, sorry about the wait guys, I should hopefully be updating regularly again, at least I hope so. The trio is relatively safe for now, so stay tuned for what comes next, read and review, and as always guys, have an amazing day!
