The two spades hit the muddy ground hard, digging up large chunks of earth with each strike. A lonely shovel was tasked to throw out the dirt from the makeshift pit the spades had created with their hard work in the last hour.
At the edge of the large hole, a woman stood, watching the three men as they put their tools into good use below her. They had worked tirelessly so far, but their prey had still managed to elude them.
"We are aroun' the rock of the mountainside!" noted the largest man. He scratched his thick brown beard and brushed off the dirt from his dark-blue clothes. "If that nest ain' popping up soon, then we can bet that it ain' never gonna' pop up!"
"Keep working Bipin," the woman calmed him. "The nest must be close. Alas, I can't cook duck-weasel omelet without duck-weasel eggs."
The men groaned with hunger written all over their faces.
"That omelet is the only reason we do this!" said another man. "But are you sure that duck-weasel has its nest around here?"
"Yah, it does,' grumbled Bipin. "Saw' little sucker getting into the hole we busted with the first strike of our spades. She gotta' be around. Just maybe not this way."
"Well, you might hasten up. Midday is coming soon."
Another wave of discontentment was the only answer to the woman's proposal.
"You oughta' grab that spare shovel Moritha. Would help more than your chattin'!"
Moritha gifted Bipin with a small smile, then grabbed the spade and used it to support herself.
"You find the eggs, I make the omelet! That was our deal, wasn't it?"
"Aw, come on, woman, we have better things to do than dig all day!"
Bipin was quick to express his disagreement as he hit the complainer in the back of his head.
"Quit squabblin' and dig harder! That omelet is the best thing we can do for today, I'm tellin' ya!"
"I also cook for almost the whole island, so just being here isn't exactly the best use of my time either!" added Moritha. "A food riot is the least thing Kyoshi Island needs right now, so…"
She bit off the end of her sentence. A weak, distant noise reached her ears, carried by the cold winds of the sea. Moritha turned away from the pit and the men, and for a moment, she tried to listen and discern the source of the noise. It came from far away, past the forest, somewhere around the shores.
"Whats' happenin' up there?" asked her Bipin. "Whats' this big silence?"
"I…" Moritha stepped away from the pit, in the direction of the strange noise. "I think I hear something. Or someone."
"Someone?"
"I think it is crying… It is coming from the shores…" Like being dragged away by some invisible force, Moritha found herself walking towards the shore with a hastening pace. "Maybe someone is in trouble! I have to check it out!"
"No! Wait for us ye' silly woman!"
Moritha disregarded Bipin as her steps hastened, and she was almost running through the forest. The trees in front of her thinned, and with that, the noise grew stronger. Now she could clearly hear a crying – high-pitched and troubled, like the whimpers of a trapped animal.
As she reached the last trees, a terrible scene greeted her eyes. She was in the large eastern bay, a remote and desolate area rarely visited by the islanders. The rough, greyish sand of the shore couldn't draw many people normally, but this time, it still did, though not by the unfortunate visitors' own choosing.
The shoreline was littered with wreckage. From the looks of it, these were the remains of a ship, maybe a larger fishing boat. Among the mangled planks and the tatters of the sail, unmoving figures slept their eternal dreams.
"MOM!"
The desperate scream of a little girl snapped out Moritha from her horror immediately. She turned towards the voice, and it didn't take her too long to find the source as she was stumbling amidst the wreckage.
She was young, very young – no more than six years old. Her face was frozen by pain and terror, her messy black hair and ragged green clothes swirled freely with the winds of the ocean, giving her an appearance of a revenant, a haunting ghost of the dead.
"MOM!"
The cloak on her back got stuck in a shattered cross-beam and she fell back into the slimy gravel. She screamed up in pain, and hit the ground hard, launching a greyish spray of saltwater into the sky.
Moritha wasted no time in rushing to her. As she gently picked up the child, she could see her eyes bouncing around, trying to discern something out of the world with their pale stare.
"Mom!" The girl squealed, her mind dulled from trauma, and she clung to Moritha's clothes, drawing herself into the woman's embrace. She began to cry helplessly, he tears carving long chinks in the dirt covering her face. "Mom…"
"Hey, calm down, you are safe now," Moritha shushed. Her voice shook the girl. She stopped crying and looked up, trying to find a face for the words. As their eyes met, Moritha had to steel herself to not drop the child back into the sand: the little girl's eyes were unnaturally black, like some sort of dark, etheric corruption had overtaken her iris, leaving only a small green rim around her pupil.
The girl reacted similarly to Moritha's face: she reeled and slightly pushed herself away, even though her mind was still too dull to make her struggle. Moritha felt her confusion, and lacking a better idea, she forced out a warm smile and gently smoothed the girl's disheveled hair to lull her.
The fond gesture worked, and most of the darkness disappeared from the girl's face. She tried to look around again, first towards the forest, then turning her head to the ocean.
"No! Don't look!" Moritha turned away the girl's head just in time before she could see the grisly remnants of the ship and the dead bodies between them. The girl reacted with a small squeak, and tightened her hold on Moritha.
"Where is my mom?" she cried, and her voice was faint, like she was just moments away from passing out.
"I…" began Moritha, but she was cut short by shouts from the forest.
"Kyoshi's bronz' spoon, whats' happened here?" Bipin and his men quickly ran to the wreckage and began to search for survivors. "Spirits be damned, what' mess!"
"They must be Earth Kingdom refugees," noted another man. "Their ship was probably caught by that strange storm yesterday."
"This ain' lookin' good," added Bipin. "The ship was busted." He lifted a wooden sheet from the water, a former part of the hull. It had a long, deep claw mark on it. "I don' wanna even know what happened."
He stepped to Moritha and checked out the girl in her arms. Bipin and Moritha spoke with a quick exchange of glances; there was no need to say out loud what was undeniable for them. Their silence was better for everyone present, especially the girl.
"Ya, it ain' good," concluded Bipin with a sigh. "What's now?"
"I'll take her back to the village. I have a feeling that Tamara will know what to do with her."
Bipin nodded with approval.
"Good idea. And if you are there, send for help. We havta' clean up this place fast."
Moritha left without saying anything, acknowledging Bipin's words with only a sad glance.
As she passed into the forest, the girl in her hands looked up again.
"W-Who are you?" she mumbled faintly. "Where is mom?"
"I'm Moritha. Your mother… she journeyed to another place, but she will be back soon. Until then, I will look after you, okay?" Dizzy and exhausted, the girl seemingly accepted these answers. "Now, what's your name?"
"I'm Kei." With that, she leaned back to Moritha's embrace, and as far as the woman could determine, fainted immediately.
"Don't worry Kei, everything will be alright," said Moritha as much to the unconscious girl as to herself. "You will be fine." She hastened her steps, and soon approached the ridge that led to the central village. Above the trees, she could even see the Avatar Kyoshi statue that was in front of the village – it almost looked like its head was facing towards them, watching. This instantly cleared all doubt from Moritha's mind concerning the girl's future. "You shall be a Kyoshi Warrior!"
THE END
Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed the story! Rate and review, all comments are welcomed! This is also the final story in the first arc of my Kyoshi Warriors saga, encompassing the events that happened with the Kyoshi Warriors during the timeline of ATLA. The second arc will start soon with the story 'The Fallen Warrior' and it will have revelations concerning both the Kyoshi Warriors' past and future!