Ulva's inn was the only place on the whole island that accommodated travellers. As Tamara found out, all the rooms were occupied. This was in great part because of the storm, but some were taken a long ago. And one had a guest who was here for almost a whole month. And he paid for the room in advance.
Very amateurish. Very typical.
So overall, all that Tamara had to do is to wait in the sitting-room of the inn, and watch for suspicious people. She knew that sooner or later, the saboteur would appear here, as he couldn't evade the Kyoshi Warriors forever. He had to show up and face her personally, lest he risk complete failure.
Luckily, the storm kept everyone else in their rooms, so Tamara was alone, and could do her job undisturbed.
Her man showed up roughly one hour after midday. He was tall and wide, with dark-toned skin and a very muscular body. His green eyes and short, greyish hair were mismatched with his grey and brown clothing. His whole appearance screamed 'marauder'. Tamara knew that he wasn't a man for these kinds of infiltration and sabotage jobs. Actually, his brutal features were well known for her. He was Sengo, a veteran mercenary, and an old acquaintance of hers.
He unceremoniously walked to Tamara and sat down next to her. The large sabre on his back clanged loudly when it hit the back of the chair.
"You haven't aged a single day since the last time we met." he began. His sonorous, deep voice was a very good match to his looks.
"Thanks. It's been quite some time since then."
"Sixteen years. You and your sisters demolished a whole cave on me and some other mercenaries. Just because we didn't want to surrender without fighting."
"Yeah, the Arvind Mountains. I'm not surprised that you survived it somehow."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"You could. Anyways, why are you here?"
"Do I really have to tell it to you? You have already figured it out, and I hate to repeat other people's thoughts."
"And what did bring you to this friendly inn in these stormy times?" Tamara's sarcastic question made Sengo frown.
"Well, your little bloodhounds are everywhere, that's what!" he rearranged the clothes on his shoulder, revealing a large cut on his robe. "One of them even cut into me! You shouldn't give real weapons to those girls, lest they will kill someone!"
Tamara laughed up, what only made Sengo angrier.
"You shouldn't pick a fight with Kitara! She is the best swordfighter of the group!"
"Thank you, but I've already noticed that."
"And why did you even attack them?"
"It was an accident. I didn't want to attack, but it just happened that way."
"Did the others experience similar accidents too?"
Sengo just snorted.
"Please, you arranged those teams perfectly. I'm not the man to fight the daemonspawn and your daughter-wannabe, and I don't want to take a taste from the combined might of the spiritbender and the younger redhead." Tamara just smiled. In her thoughts, she gave a good point to Suki.
"And you picked Kitara and Nirmal because…"
"It was an accident. Because, you know, I don't want to get to the wrong side of Shiela either."
"It is very wise of you. But back to the topic, the only thing I couldn't figure out is the affiliation of your employers. So who are they?"
Now it was Sengo's turn to smile.
"It doesn't matter. Not the Fire Nation and not the Earth Kingdom." his smile only widened when he noticed Tamara's puzzled face. "I would put them somewhere in-between."
"You don't say…" panic gripped Tamara's mind. She had a very good idea about these mysterious people, but if they want to attack the island, then it would spell disaster for anyone here.
"I do. The whole Third Battalion is en route to a nearby Fire Nation base, and they have some very solid orders to drown this island in blood."
Tamara could feel her heart beating like crazy and her thoughts rampaging in her mind like bewildered komodo rhinos. Her worst nightmares were just about to come true.
"What?" her voice was shaky from the shock, and it improved Sango's mood greatly.
"As I said. They are three days away from the base and you will have another four until the invasion. If I were you, then I would try to neutralize them somehow before they attack."
This gave Tamara a good idea. She looked right into Sengo's eyes. He was a mercenary. And for a warrior, he was a good one. Maybe she could take an advantage on these things.
"And what is your reward?" she took a deep breath. "I'll double it if you help me driving back that army!"
But Sengo only burst out laughing.
"I don't do it for money! In return for my efforts, I will only get a little piece of fun." he grinned viciously, and glanced through Tamara. "The battalion will raze this whole place to the ground. They will kill everyone, without exception. Actually, as I heard, they will use earthbenders to sink the whole island right into the depths of the ocean."
"I won't let it happen…" grumbled Tamara, but Sengo just laughed on her.
"You know, when your stupid team buried me in that cave with those guys, you gave me some pretty hard time to survive. It wasn't really the best time of my life, and I like to keep my grudges. So this is what will happen: I'll catch your little girls one by one and lock them up in your precious dojo." he made a wide gesture with his hand, like he would close a door. "Then, because I hate loose threads, I'll set the building on fire and watch those little freaks burn alive!"
Normally, Tamara would just laugh on this. The Kyoshi Warrior dojo was perfectly fireproof and had a secret escape hatch under the training mattress.
She would do it, normally.
But not now. Even though his threat was bleeding from many wounds, Sengo still crossed the line. Whatever he said, he meant it. And nobody can threaten her girls like this.
She needed only a short moment to clear her head and focus. She calmed her breath and heart, and forced a cold stillness to her body. Now, she could feel every little muscle, and have perfect control over them – she used her will to negate her own physical limitations, and determined that her attack would have the speed of a lightning and the force of a tornado.
But Sengo was prepared for this, and when Tamara kicked out, he immediately rolled away, dodging the attack in the final moment. It helped him a lot that Tamara wasn't even half as fast as she wanted to be, even though her strike literally pulverized Sengo's chair.
With her initial attack failed, Sengo had a good opportunity to launch a furious counter-attack. He tried to quickly finish the fight with a series of swift jabs, but Tamara still had her momentum and easily evaded him.
The two broke up to gain a little distance. Tamara drew her golden war fans and Sengo also unsheathed his sabre. They grinned at each other menacingly for a moment, then they charged at the same time. They both knew that only one of them could leave this place alive, and the duel between them could potentially influence the future of the whole island.
When they clashed, it seemed that the whole world stopped for a moment. The two warriors soon united in a maelstrom of blades, as the swift war fans battled the heavy sabre. The two fought with such skill and speed that an average spectator would think that they were dancing.
Tamara had to admit, the thirteen years she spent on the island without any serious fighting actually made her much softer than she thought. She could defeat Sengo a long ago, but her moves grew more and more clumsy with each passing moment and she could feel her strength and stamina slowly leaking away.
On the other side of things, Sengo was in a perfect condition, and his attacks soon proved to be increasingly dangerous to Tamara. Luckily, his sabre was ineffective against the Kyoshi Warrior armour, and the few strikes that reached Tamara bounced off harmlessly from the steel bands. This forced Sengo to aim at her unarmoured parts, which in turn put her in an advantageous position. So far, her armour counterbalanced Tamara's decreasing performance, but she knew that this couldn't last forever.
She jumped up to a table, and kicked Sengo in the face. To her greatest surprise, her attack actually hit him, and the robust man staggered to a shelf, crushing it under his weight. The strike stunned him, and gave Tamara an opportunity to finish him off. She leaped to him and knelt into his stomach. This made Sengo buckle in pain, and his neck became vulnerable to a deadly strike.
But just as Tamara raised her war fan to kill him, Sengo suddenly regained his senses, and tossed Tamara aside. The war fan still hit him, cutting deeply into his side, but he barely noticed it. He attacked again, and just as Tamara recovered, she got a powerful punch to her face.
The blow sent her flying through the room, landing on a desk and smashing it with her body. A sharp pain pierced her side, and she knew that she had just got a broken rib or two. But she didn't have the time to ponder on her wounds, as Sengo rushed to her with his sabre ready to slash into her. She swallowed a pained scream, and tried to stand up…
Only to realize that she had gotten stuck in the remains of the desk. She couldn't move. She was immobilized and defenceless. And Sengo noticed it. He slowed down, and changed his determined charge into a casual walk.
"This went surprisingly easy." he said with a wicked grin on his face. "If I had known this, then I would probably have challenged you sooner."
Tamara didn't answer to his taunt, and only stared at him menacingly and made another futile attempt to free herself.
Her struggle made Sengo laugh. He stepped in front of her, towering above Tamara like a shadow of death. He raised his sabre to prepare for the finishing blow.
"And now Instructor Tamara…" he began.
"Instructor Tamara!" the girlish scream interrupted Sengo, and the doors of the room burst open, and to Tamara's greatest surprise, her young Kyoshi Warriors appeared. Pema from the main entrance, Okako and Nirmal from the back door and Kitara and Asha from the stairs, right behind Sengo.
They startled him for a moment, but as he looked around, he realized that the girls were late. The situation they found in the room confused them, and now they seemed to be too puzzled to do anything.
Sengo widened his smile, and looked right into Tamara's eyes.
"…And now Instructor Tamara, it is your time to die!"
Tamara closed her eyes. She was prepared to die, but not like this.
Not in front of her girls!
A huge thunder cracked through the air above the island, a final memento of the leaving storm.
Tamara could feel something heavy landing on her, and she released a pained scream as the pressure struck her broken ribs.
A warm fluid splashed on her face. She knew that it is blood.
And with that, it was over.