Foreign Blood

By THE Xenomorph (aka Xenomorph666)

Beta: L1701E

Avatar: The Last Airbender and all related Characters are © Nickelodeon

Bao-Fai is © Me

Choronus Illadae is © Me

Apprentice?

Choronus yawned as he woke up, and much to his surprise, found Azula already awake and looking out the window. Unfortunately, she did not look happy. Of course, the magician didn't really know what that looked like anyway.

"They're here." She muttered coldly. "They got free and they followed us in less than a day!" Choronus could almost swear she was trying to hide her fear.

"Good." Choronus said as he stretched and put his coat on. "I need to warm up for the walk today."

"Are you crazy? He's an earthbender! He'll crush you!" The former ruler hissed.

Choronus merely looked over his shoulder with a grin. "I'm getting stronger." He spoke a word and a ball of purple-gold flame appeared in his hands.

"Purple and gold fire?" Azula blinked in amazement. "That's new."

"Magic fire, shares colors with my aura." The archeologist explained as he balled his hands into fists and quickly exited the room.

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Azula watched from the window as Choronus exited the building. The men who had stolen her from the asylum were at the local guard house, threatening the guards to help them locate her. At first, she thought her companion was going to fight smart and take them on one at a time. Instead, he whistled loud enough to gather their attention.

"Hello, boys! Nice to see you again!" The dark-haired girl couldn't see his face, but imagined he had a smile similar to her own when she was provoking people.

"You..." Their snarling leader was the first out of the guard house door and the first to attack. A rush of earth rocketed towards Choronus. The blue-haired man merely yawned as he spoke a few words and dodged the arcs of moving earth that the earthbender kept sending out. She, of course, recognized the words as the single word he had used to paralyze her mixed with a few other odd ones she didn't know. Soon enough, all the man's followers fell to the ground, paralyzed.

"Done yet?" Choronus yawned. Azula detected the very obvious condescension in his voice.

"What are you?" The man roared in anger as he created a solid wall of earth and sent it sailing at Choronus, who merely stood there.

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Choronus had merely a second to recognize the large form coming at him, and he reacted out of instinct.

"Tenith Ryop..." As soon as the words left his mouth, a purple-gold flame about his height jutted from his hand and melted the earth in front of it to glass. The earthen wall, however, just melted down the middle and the sides passed by the sorcerer. "Fih Zhen." The fireball merely vanished.

"D-Demon!" One man shouted in horror as he dropped a large load of cabbages and ran away.

"Firebender!" The leader yelled.

"Sorcerer..." Choronus corrected. He could already feel his strength waning from the use of such a powerful spell. He cursed himself as he fell to his knees.

"Huh? Sorcerer..." The leader then laughed. "Expend too much of your magic, then?"

"What would you know..." Choronus coughed.

"I know I got more chi than you got magic..." The leader smirked arrogantly as he casually walked to Choronus.

Deep in his thoughts, the archeologist was busy connecting dots. This world had a flow of magic and chi, but somehow his magic had been disrupted while his chi had not. He began thinking carefully as he pushed himself back up to his feet. He focused on his opponent; with his magic low, he would have to use another source of energy to power his spells. Inspired, he pulled out a pen knife.

"What, you think that little blade can hurt me?" The leader laughed. Choronus smirked.

"No, but it's a great tool..." He tossed the pen knife in the air, and it flew off to the ground in front of a shop only a few feet away. "... for finding ley lines." He made a mad dash for the pen knife and grasped it, feeling the rush of natural energies flowing around it. The sorcerer pulled it from the ground. The rush of energy surrounded him in the form of a massive gust of wind that blew down several carts and other objects. After the initial rush, Choronus turned back to the large man and smiled.

"What was that?" The leader blinked in confusion.

"A power boost. Courtesy of the spirits nearby." Choronus's face formed a grin that showed that he knew he had this fight won. "Can you catch a hadouken?"

"A what?" the leader asked.

"HADOUKEN!" Choronus roared as he mimicked his favorite video game move, though he used his own magical fire for the attack and a lot of superheated air to send the man sailing past the town gates. He once again fell to his knees. Before he collapsed, he put the pen knife back into the earth and felt even more of his strength diminishing.

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Azula was sitting in their room when the innkeeper brought Choronus back up to the room and put him onto the unmade bed that was his. Before he left though, he gave the young girl a tea set and several mixes. He also let her know the town was debating what to do with them. After the door had closed, she put the tea set on a counter nearby and stared at it for a few seconds before curling up in a chair, slowly embracing sleep.

When she woke up again, it was with a start from a miraculously dreamless sleep. Choronus was now up and resting against the wall by the door while carefully sipping from some tea. He didn't look too happy. In fact, he looked like someone had roused him to true anger.

"We need a new escape plan." He grumbled in frustration as he slammed his fist into the door. "We're locked in."

"The innkeeper said something about them deciding what to do with us." Azula snorted. "They probably think you're loyal to my father."

"That would be bad..." Choronus mumbled, a look of confused worry crossing his face before he pointed to the tea set. "Have some. It's great for restoring energy."

"Well that explains why you're up." Azula grunted, stretching her back.

"We were both out of it for a whole day. That's why I'm up." Choronus remarked as he took a careful sip before he moved away from the door. "Be on your guard, someone's coming."

The door opened to reveal the innkeeper, who had a small travel bag with him. At his side was an old woman with a very obvious mole right on her nose. Azula noted that her companion immediately cringed away from looking at the old woman.

"What's that for?" The former firebender wondered out loud, confused by the lack of armed guards.

"Town voted." The innkeeper announced. "We want you gone, but you did teach those men a tough lesson." He then looked to Azula. "I don't know how you escaped those men, but you're lucky you found this guy to look out for you."

"Did they say anything about why they wanted me?" Azula asked, afraid they may have revealed her identity.

"No, but I can't imagine it would have been pleasant." The innkeeper said as he handed her the bag. "There's a small pai sho tablet in there as well to pass the time."

"Great..." Azula sighed, slightly disappointed it was a game she had no patience for. She looked to her companion, but he seemed more intent on studying the innkeeper.

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"I suppose you'll want directions, then?" The innkeeper turned to Choronus who had been studying him since he appeared with the bag.

The young sorcerer was almost always suspicious of gifts coming from people who were, politely or not, kicking him out. This time, of course, he was also suspicious of the older woman from the clothes shop from earlier. Something was off about their behavior. It was benevolent while also cold, like a master strategist handing foes poisoned food under the guise of peace talks.

"Just to the nearest port that'll take us back to the Fire Nation." Choronus answered.

"Ah, you want to go home then." The innkeeper smiled. "Well, you don't have to leave till tomorrow, so please enjoy the rest of your stay as my guests." With that, the two smiling figures retreated.

"That was odd." Azula said as soon as the door closed.

Choronus didn't speak until a few seconds later. "Empty the bag on the bed."

"Ok." Azula did so, immediately seeing several suspicious items. "These incenses might as well be a flare to anything tracking us."

"No food." Choronus looked the bag's contents over and unfolded a paper pai sho play mat. "Stupid game..."

"You have no idea. My uncle plays this all the time." Azula snorted. "Him and his stupid white lotus gambits." The blue-haired sorcerer couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"Heh, so you weren't good at everything after all." Choronus smiled as he dismissed her annoyed glare. "Not that I can really talk. About the only game I'm good at is poker."

"Poker?" Azula asked.

"You'd like it, all about skill in lying and misdirection." Choronus smiled. "I cheat like a madman." He paused as he sorted through the pai sho tiles. "Might be why the last guy I played with tried to kill me."

"Sounds like a fun game." Azula smiled.

"I got a deck of cards, so I guess I can teach you." Choronus offered.

"I'd rather learn that magic stuff." Azula's smile grew.

"No." Choronus felt his face almost become a rock.

"Why not? I can't bend anymore, and it's obvious you can't." Azula demanded. "Why can't I learn?"

"Magic isn't a toy, or a fighting style guided by chi." Choronus revealed calmly. "Where as I can assume benders have some degree of control over the element just through training and movement, magic is very different."

"You melted earth." Azula reminded. "I want that kind of power."

"It's not about power, it's about control. Even for a wildfire sorcerer like myself, I have to measure how much power I want to use. I have to be fast and decisive with my wording, and one wrong syllable could create a massive backlash or even alter the spell." Choronus continued, "Let me ask you this, ever burn yourself when you practice your bending before?"

"No, but Zuko did a few times." Azula remembered, showing her contempt for his lack of willingness to teach her.

"Did he have any scars?" Choronus asked.

"No, our father did that to him during an agni ki." Azula grumbled as she blew her hair out of her face.

Choronus blinked for a second, storing that knowledge at the forefront of his brain to bring back later, then continued. "To compare then, if you were to mispronounce the simplest fireball spell, which is just a single syllable, you would likely need to treat second degree burns on your arm and shoulder."

"Second degree?" Azula blinked.

"Three degrees of burns where I come from. First degree is just a surface burn. It hurts, but it'll heal. Second degree needs medical treatment. Usually burns the skin off and needs lots of ointments and such. Third is cooked flesh." Choronus clarified. "I messed up a second level fire spell once, nearly killed my teacher. Almost dropped using magic."

"So you won't teach me because I could potentially kill you?" Azula sneered. The archeologist shook his head.

"I won't teach you because for you it's suicidal at best. I had to study the language I use for my spells for several years before I even learned to light a wick with magic. You don't have that luxury." Choronus said. "And the language and all that goes with it is key to making the magic work right."

"So teach me how to use the paper spells, then." Azula demanded.

"Those were chi spells." Choronus countered. "As in I used chi to power them."

"Unbelievable." Azula harrumphed in disbelief, throwing her arms up in the air.

"Sorry, kiddo, no magic for you." Choronus smirked as he held up one of the pai sho tiles and smiled.

"What?" Azula asked.

"The clothing lady had one of these tables." Choronus smiled.

"So, old people play pai sho." Azula scoffed with a dismissive wave.

"She also had this symbol in her shop name." Choronus tossed the piece up and caught. "In my experience people that use that level of symbolism are trying to either send a message or mark targets. Or mark burials, but that's another type of story." He gestured to the other tiles. "Notice something off about the other tiles?"

Azula looked closely at the tiles and picked them up. At first, she rubbed them between her fingers, thinking the wood grain would feel different. Then, she sniffed them, thinking they would smell different. Finally, she bit into them and shrugged in a bit of confusion before she noticed that the white lotus tile only had one mark on it: her bite marks.

"The others have been used, a lot." Azula blinked. "I really am not myself. I would have noticed this in almost a second before."

"I doubt that." Choronus shook his head. "The only reason I spotted it was the innkeeper's sudden behavior switch. Put me into detective mode."

"Detective mode?" Azula arched an eyebrow. "I thought you studied cultures."

"Ancient cultures that don't exist anymore." Choronus reminded as he reached into his pocket and frowned as he remembered his cigarettes were gone. "At least mostly. Archeology is a lot of detective work and lot of toil."

"So what now?" Azula wondered.

"Now we leave those things behind." Choronus picked up the incense and tossed them under his bed. "And go along with their little game. I'll keep my eye out for any other white lotus symbols on our travels."

A knock came at the door. Choronus glanced at Azula and quickly motioned to pack the things. He opened the door and found the innkeeper standing there with a map.

"I know you want a boat right now, but the nearest villages are all under lock down because of some weird sea creature." He handed Choronus a map. Much to the sorcerer's displeasure, the map led them further inland to what looked like a walled city. "Right now Ba Sing Sae is your best bet. Should be able to get a larger boat to take you to a coastal city that can take you to the Fire Nation."

"Thanks." Choronus tried not to visibly wince. He hated detours, and this was likely going to delay any chance of him getting back home within a sane time limit to almost nothing. He then closed the door.

"What's wrong?" Azula asked as she seemed to catch on to his perturbed attitude.

"Been detoured to Ba Sing Sae. Know of it?" He inquired.

Azula's face faltered big time as he watched her lie directly to his face...and they both knew it. "Heard of it. Just a big earth kingdom city. Nothing much really." A weak smile on her part kept Choronus from prying anymore at the moment.