Chapter 14

Grounded

I woke up to Torrin's voice shouting my name. Instantly, my head flew off of my pillow and I jumped up in the darkness of the tent, feeling around for the opening frantically. He was standing just outside, mask in hand and expression deadly serious.

"What's wrong?" I asked fearfully.

"A troupe of bandits kidnapped some kids in our encampment when they were playing by the river. They just got the ransom note."

"Let me get my weapons."

I dashed inside and furiously snatched up my rapier and mask from my pack. I dashed outside and together, Torrin and I raced off into the night toward the river.

. . .

"Stay low and stay quiet. They're probably keeping the kids in the center tent, but we should wait and observe for a while, just to make sure," Torrin whispered.

I nodded from behind my mask and laid flat against the ground. We'd found a hill that overlooked the bandit encampment, where four large men were sitting by a fire near a tent and a crate of food bearing the Rebellion's insignia on the side. They spoke quietly to one another, but we were just far enough away to miss what they were saying. As we watched, a fifth man slid out of the tent. He said said something in a boisterous voice that was just loud enough for us to catch snippets from our hiding place.

"…brats… saw it comin'! We'll take… Rebels… all they've got!" He laughed in a booming voice. The others snickered and hollered in response. He made a sweeping gesture at the tent and mentioned something about kids, which confirmed Torrin's theory. He turned his masked face to me and I nodded.

We crawled back down hill and my heartbeat thundered in my ears. My fingers tingled with adrenaline. We snuck around the hill and broke into a quiet run toward the camp. With luck, we would be upon them before they had a chance to draw their weapons, so I took the opportunity to draw my own.

Torrin ran ahead of my with his long, bounding legs, and leapt into the air. He pulled back a fist and slammed it into the ground right behind the unsuspecting men and the earth rumbled and rose to his will. The two men closest to us went flying into the air and gravity brought them back down, hard, into a heap by the fire. I flew past Torrin and swung my rapier at the man standing before the tent.

He looked much smaller from the hill.

This man was a towering giant, and by the time I reached him, he'd grabbed a hulking club embedded with four, wicked metal spikes. He met my rapier with the club, and my blade cut into the wood and stuck.

"Uh-oh," I said right as he hurled his club into the air and took me with it. My feet lifted from the ground. I was momentarily defenseless, which my assailant took advantage of and sunk a massive fist into my side. I released my rapier with a shout of pain and tumbled to the ground, rolling a little on impact. I clutched my ribs but got up in time to dodge a random sword slicing through the air. I'd forgotten there was a fifth guy. I spun around and landed a precise kick in his groin and he momentarily went down.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Torrin tossing huge mounds of earth at the two men he'd thrown down previously and who were now tag-teaming him. I almost called out to him, but didn't have the time to form the words when Giant over here took another swing at me.

This is going well so far… I thought as I whipped out my father's dagger. It was tiny and unassuming, but I had my smallness and agility on my side against this hulking beast. He came toward me, leading with his right leg and winding his arm up to backhand me with the club. I darted forward and sliced my knife through the skin on his thigh, rolling between his legs and jumping up behind him. He roared and dropped to a knee. I launched myself at him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He rose back to his feet and lifted me up on his back, bucking and twisting against me. I clung on for dear life.

"Torrin!" I shouted desperately. I couldn't even look to see if he'd heard, so wild was the Giant's thrashing.

He must've heard something, because suddenly the ground beneath the Giant's feet twisted and parted and he fell with a defeaning crash to the ground. I followed the motion and had just enough foresight to shove his skull forward so it would take the brunt of the impact. The Giant's own weight worked against him and he smashed into the ground, face-first, and ceased to move.

I detached myself from him and rose to my feet.

"Ira!" Torrin's voice called out. I turned just in time to duck away from the swordsman I'd forgotten again. He lunged forward again and I got in close to shove the blade aside from the hilt with the edge of my hand. He staggered, momentarily off-balance.

I got into my most centered stance and swung my leg around, willing fire to blast out of it. A tiny little burst of flame ignited at my feet, but it was enough to do the trick. The man's exposed chest, free of protective clothing, burned instantly and he screamed in agony. His sword clattered from his hand and I snatched it up, pointing it at him. He curled into fetal position in the dirt, clutching the angry burn on his chest and wimpering.

Finally, I had a moment to catch my breath. Footsteps behind me had me on alert and jerking my head, but it was only Torrin. He stamped his foot into the ground with a simultaneous gesture of his hand, raising a cage of earth around the injured man. I looked around to see he had raised similar prisons around the other men, all out cold.

I grinned at him, but then remembered that I was wearing a mask like he was and said, "Nice work!"

He nodded. "You too."

I snorted, remembering how much I had just struggled. "No, really! You took down the scariest ones," he insisted.

"Yeah, with your help!"

"I didn't help that much."

"If you hadn't, I would be worm food right now."

He brushed me off and strode toward the tent, shaking his head. He was smart enough to know when arguing with me was useless. He was maybe a foot away from the tent when a large figure in billowing clothes flew out of nowhere and landed in front of him.

My heart stopped.

"Oh no…" I squeaked. Torrin cocked his head to the side curiously as the mysterious stranger slowly turned around.

"You are in so much trouble," warned Aang, the Avatar.

. . .

"What were you thinking, Kairo?"

"I was thinking I should help my friend save some kidnapped kids!"

"You know what I meant."

Torrin, Aang, the rescued children, and I had begun the journey back to camp, but Aang held me back on the hill overlooking the camp. I told Torrin to go ahead without me and he escorted the kids back. I wished he'd take off his mask so I could have read his expression.

"Kairo." He demanded when I didn't speak. I sighed and took off my mask to face him directly.

"You know, you were twelve when you went out on a dangerous journey around the world," I reminded him sardonically. "My parents were even younger than I was when they went with you."

"That is beside the point! It was my duty to go when I was twelve. And technically, I was actually one-hundred and—"

"Then what's my duty? Huh?" I interrupted, feeling defensive and upset now. I threw my arms out wide shouting, "To sit around and fail to meet everyone's expectations while people out here are suffering and dying? I can make a difference out here, Uncle Aang. For the first time in my life I have a purpose. I know you're worried about me, and I know my family must be worried too, but there are so many people out here risking their lives for what they believe in. Tell them to just walk away. Tell them to go home. Some of these people don't even have homes to go back to!" I waved my arm to gesture to the humble collection of tents sprinkled across the field. "You want me to give up and go back to safety because I come from a palace instead of a hut, but I can't. Not now."

He looked out at the people camped out below us and something in his gaze softened. When he turned back to me, his grey eyes were green and gentle. "These people are actively fighting to take down your father and disrupt the order we have been fighting so hard to build. You do realize that, don't you?" He asked me gently. I looked away, not really knowing what to say to that. He sighed. "I will do my best to help these people, and I'm proud of you for being willing to give up so much for them. But there's nothing more you can do here. Go home to your family, Kai. They need you."

My heart sank a little at the pleading in his eyes. I knew how sensitive he was about family, having lost nearly everyone he loved in one fell swoop when he vanished from the world for a century. I couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to know that all of my loved ones lived and died without me.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. My family will be just fine without me. Torrin needs me more right now."

He regarded me thoughtfully for a long moment. "Does he really need you? Or, perhaps, do you need him to need you?"

My eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He continued slowly, as though he were using every word after very deliberate and delicate selection. "I think you have spent so much of your life feeling unnecessary, like you were nothing but a hindrance to everyone around you. I think that when Torrin said he needed you, not because of your title but because of you and your abilities, you were blinded by your need to feel wanted."

I recoiled from the words like they were physical blows.

He caught my tortured face and his eyes became filled with an empathetic sadness. He sighed. "Torrin seems like a very capable but very troubled young man. He carries this darkness in his heart that blinds him to all of the joy and happiness he could have, if he would let go of the fear and hate that guides him. I remember meeting a young man with a very similar darkness, once upon a time." Aang held my gaze meaningfully. I swallowed, realizing whom he meant.

"But Uncle Aang, my father changed—"

He shook his head sadly. "It took a great deal of suffering, and many, many bad decisions for Fire Lord Zuko to achieve that change of heart, princess. He hurt many people, including the people he would come to love most in this world. Including your mother."

I bit my lip and looked away.

"Torrin is on a path of violence and sorrow, and if you go with him, you will not only enable that in him, but you will invite it upon yourself. Please, Kairo, tell him you can't support him in this. Tell him the truth."

It turns out, I didn't have to.