Chapter 20: Skateboards

The next morning was something entirely new for the three Fire Nation girls. While they were slowly getting used to camping out in the open they had no experience travelling with more people. Ty Lee observed the organized chaos as they packed their things . They had no real rules on who did what, but somehow they had no problem efficiently packing the whole campsite. Soon all the tents disappeared and the group was on it's way again. The girls were given their own ostrich-horses, and now they rode as the last of the group.

"So, now that we're on our way to Ba Sing Se we can learn about the Earth Kingdom from them!" Ty Lee offered. She was excited to meet people who were not Fire Nation and get to know them, especially the guy called Nagato. She always found more fun in being around interesting people, and that Nagato looked like beast. Ty Lee reallly wanted to get to know him. Fuck what Azula says, just this once at least.

"No thanks. I'll pass." Mai countered, sounding as bored as ever. Seriously, that girl ought to brighten up a little from time to time. Her aura was dull and gray and not pink at all, and it was like that ever since they were on the mission, with the occasional spark of red or yellow when they spoke about Zuko, and purple when they fought. Ty Lee would gladly cheer up her frowning friend, if only she knew how.

"That's right Mai." Azula added "We cannot afford to rise suspicion. We need to get to the city as quickly as we can, without them figuring us out."

Azula's aura was black and red, just like fire and smoke. It signaled her anger and passion, but with more negativity came more black smoke aura, and Azula's was almost all black for the last few weeks. Thankfully it was getting better each and every day, but yeah, Azula still was angry and brooding. Mostly brooding, but determined to win next time.

"Aaaazuuulaaaa!" Ty Lee complained "I just wanted to-"

"Get close to that guy, I know that."

"He has a name, you know!" Ty Lee pouted before picking some speed. Ty Lee headed off to the front of their group and Azula was left with Mai in the rear. The two girls rode in silence for a few precious moments before Mai asked a question that was in her mind ever since they got their mounts. The frowny girl looked at the princess and awkwardly broke the silence.

"So... wanna play catch a knife?"

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Ty Lee rode forward and easily caught up to the main body of the travelling group, which consisted of almost everyone except for Nagato and the two hunters. Ty Lee was busy looking around to find the three of them, and so she was completely unaware of the singer who approached her.

"Hey Tara, you finally decided to join us?" the singer smiled at her, his eyes looking somewhere else then Ty Lee's eyes.

"Eh, yes. How is the ride?" Ty Lee asked politely and gave him a smile.

"Well, it's just the usual. Nagato is with the brothers in front as the scouts and guards, and the rest of us is just here. I'd usually play something, but I ran out of ideas." The singer explained, his eyes watching the road now. "And there is also Nagato's song from yesterday. I've tried to figure it out, and after an hour or so all the people are kinda pissed. So yeah, that's about it."

And there is the one sole reason for the silence. He made all of them angry by messing up a song over and over and over fucking again. Ty Lee was content with the information she was given, but one thing didn't add up.

"Did you say the three of them are guarding the caravan?" Ty Lee was truly puzzled here. Three men is nowhere enough for the entire caravan, as Azula would surely point out when she would tell her.

"Yeah, they are. That's what I said. It would be rather unfortunate if we were left unguarded. The Fire Army would kill us all and take whatever we have on us, as they did before."

"Only the three of them are guarding us?" Ty Lee gave him 'the look'.

"Well, yeah. I mean sure, it isn't the best situation ever, but hey, the brothers are good with their bows and Nagato is, well, deadly." the singer explained as if it was obvious, and Ty Lee fell silent. They had only three guards and they were confudent in their safety. This wasn't the only thing that made her beautiful smile turn into a frown. It was what the man said about the Fire Army. Did they really kill people for no reason? She shuddered at the thought. No, they wouldn't. The Fire Nation just tried to help and improve the world under their rule, Ty Lee thought. She wasn't so sure about it now though.

"Want me to show you the song?"

"No, not really."

And the singer took his guitar and started playing what was degradation of a beautiful song. He defiled it. Uggghhhh. Ty Lee once again made her mount speed up, and successfully she ran away from the horrible degradation of a song. And she promptly ran into Nagato and the hunters and into their kind of comical discussion.

"Hey Allan." Nagato called out "Are you a cow?"

A hunter, Alan most likely, replied "What? NO!"

"Yah, me neither." Said the other hunter with a cow skin cape covering most of his figure "You guys wanna go skateboards?"

"Uhhh sorry guys but what's goi-"

"Hey babe yah I'm a real man you wanna go skateboards?"

"Skateboards?" Ty Lee asked, totally out of ideas on what was going on. Nagato and Alan burst out laughing "What are those?"

"Ignore that, he stole some cactus juice for himself..." Nagato grinned while the real man who wanna go skateboards went "Meow, meow I'm a cow, I said meow-meow ima a cow!"

Cows didn't go meow, that was for sure. And Ty Lee giggled. It was so not like anything she knew, maybe for the circus parties. Ty Lee loved tose, and these three laughing teens reminded her of it. They were much funnier than Azula and Mai. So much in fact that she considered staying with them, but she quickly dismissed the thought. Who knows what would they do if they found out she was from the Fire Nation.

"...yeah, he's an idiot even without the cactus. I really hope it wears off soon, wouldn't want to look after him again..." the other hunter groaned at his brother's antics.

"Again? This happened before?" Ty Lee was curious now.

"Yeah, two times already. Every time he sips just a little and then he's out of it for a few hours or so. He doesn't remember it though, so every single time he goes to give it a try..." Nagato explained in an amused voice. This was a running gag for them, Ty Lee deduced.

"Tara, right?" Ty Lee was torn out of thoughts by the voice of Nagato.

"Yes?" Ty Lee excitedly perked up.

"We'll be stopping soon, a few miles this way is a clearing with a waterfall." The leader announced matter-of-factly. Ty Lee was excited at the prospect of a stop for several reasons. One was that she was starting to be a little hungry - it was long past noon by then - and the second was the prospect of water to swim in. A waterfall just by the camp? Perfect! Just! Perfect! "Tell the others, and take Joey the cow with you please."

"Skateboards..." the real man who is not a cow said and Ty Lee laughed.

"Alright." She said and raised a finger "But!"

"What is it Tara?"

"We'll go swimming together." Ty Lee did her puppy eyes again. She wanted to go swimming, badly, and if she had him swim too it was even better. Remember how Azula said something about not flirting with anyone? - Ty Lee thought - Fuck that.

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Azula felt bored as Mai, and that meant something. The princess would usually occupy herself with plotting something or making up a new technique to try out, but today she was just bored and didn't feel like anything since her talk with Ty Lee. The game Mai suggested wasn't really that much fun and so the two of them rode in silence once again. That is until they decided to learn all there was to learn about their companions without actually talking to them. So the two girls split up, Mai riding along the caravans and Azula riding forward to find out where has Ty Lee gone to. Soon enough she found her bubbly friend. Ty Lee was returning from the front, that was apparent, but she was also leading one of the hunters back.

...did the hunter say he was a sheep just now?

Anyway, here she comes.

"Tara! I was looking for you. Where did you come from just now?" Azula addressed Ty with the false name. It didn't sound right. Then again, they were surrounded by EK refugees, and so it wouldn't do for them to use their real names.

"I was with Nagato at the front!" Ty Lee chirped

"Why am I not surprised. So, who is this man?" Azula questioned her friend.

"Beep-beep Ima sheep..."

"He is a sheep!" Ty Lee laughed, but eventually she answered "Well, this is Joey, and he is high on cactus juice."

Then Ty Lee started smiling seemingly for no reason. She was always gleeful and bubbly, but she didn't act like this ever since... since ever. Azula was clearly missing some information concerning her friend, and it irritated her to no end. What made Ty Lee so cheerful in the first place? Really now, Ty Lee was happy almost always, but even then she usually had a reason no matter how small it was.

"So, ehm, Tara. What happened? Tell me details." Azula purred and the acrobat happily told her.

"We'll be stopping soon, and there is a pond and a waterfall we can swim in, and..."

"And?" Azula urged.

"I'm going to swim with Nagato." Alright, Ty Lee was blushing and looking away at this point. That was wrong, really really wrong. Azula emphasized they shouldn't get involved and here was Ty Lee, head over heels about a man who was technically an enemy. And so Azula did the only thing she could think of, and pointed out one very mistake Ty Lee didn't realize she did.

"We have no swimwear, you know that right?" the princess pointed out "And you'll have to take off your make-up."

"I know you said we shouldn't befriend them too much but I really like- wait, what? You're not angry?" Ty Lee blinked in surprise.

"Well, it doesn't matter now. You did promise. It won't do to back out of it now, will it?" Azula conceded. It was definitely not like she wanted to see the man in question shirtless. No, nothing like that. It was more of being practical at this point. If Ty Lee backed out now, it would pose a risk of exposing them as imposters. Yes, that's right. And that they can not risk, Azula admitted. Still it was not like Azula was going to let this blatant disobedience go, but she had her hands tied at the moment, so punishment would have to wait.

"So I can go? Thanks!" And Azula was promptly rid of any air in her lungs because of the grateful acrobat hugging her way too tightly "Maybe you and Rin could join?"

"No, I definitely couldn't." the grumpy teen appeared right next to the two of them. Mai was back, which meant she was done with observing the group and came with all the intel possible.

"I'm not keen on swimming." Azula said "but I'll go with you. A little water to help with all the heat is always welcome. That said, what do you plan to do about the swimsuits, Tara?"

And poor Ty Lee went red again. "Well, um... maybe..." she muttered.

"Maybe what? I cannot hear you."

"...maybe we could... swim without it..."

"Yeah, and you think that Nagato would just watch, right? He's a savageous peasant who didn't probably see a woman in his life. What do you think he's gonna do if you go in naked?" Azula snapped at the chi-blocker, who cowered a little under her gaze.

"Speaking of which, it appears that he is the only guard to this entire group." Mai reported and stopped the argument before it went too far. The girls looked at her in bewilderment.

"He is the only guard for the entire caravan, is that what you said?" Azula asked.

"Yes, that's exactly what I said." Mai retorted, her voice as dead as ever.

"In that case, I want to see what he's got." Azula smiled in her characteristic menacing way.

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They arrived at the clearing exactly as Nagato said. The clearing was a bright, green place untouched by human hand. It was surrounded by tall, ancient trees form all directions except for one. On that side was a huge rock with a beautiful waterfall that ended in a pond tens of feet wide and full of clean, pristine water. They built their tents by the pond and set up three fireplaces and one bigger one in the center of their new camp. Then the refugees split up to do their respective jobs, some went to collect firewood, others to collect berries or cook some food from their supplies of dried meat and some spices.

Mai was as bored as ever, spinning one of her knives on a finger, Ty Lee was stretching and Azula... Azula watched as Nagato, the hunters and a little boy went further from the camp. The boy sat down at some little distance as the three of them proceeded to warm up. It came to the princess very quickly. They were going to train their katas, and Azula was curious what would Nagato as the clearly superior one teach them. Once again she was surprised.

It was no kata, it was a sparring session, two on one with no weapons. Azula watched in bewilderment as the hunters circled Nagato as if he was prey of theirs. Hunter one lunged for Nagato's head. Nagato only fell in a low stance, and punched hunter one in the guts. Nagato immediately leaned back as a kick came from hunter two, followed by two more kicks. One was blocked by Nagato, the second was caught and hunter two was promptly lifted and thrown to the ground. Hunter one came again and Azula watched silently as the two men had their asses handed to them by Nagato numerous times in matter of seconds in a similar manner. Azula was now sure. Nagato was a prodigy when it came to combat, but he was still a nonbender. Still, what a waste for him to fight for Earth Kingdom.

There and then Azula decided. She would have him join the Fire Nation. That, or dead since he was a threat if not converted.

"Well, what do you think?" Ty Lee appeared beside Azula. The princess didn't respond as she watched Nagato literally throwing the hunters around and beating them with two to three hits.

"...he's... an alright fighter, I guess." Azula said after a while.

"He's okay? Azula, come on, you have to say it! Say I have a good taste!" Ty Lee giggled.

"Alright. He is good, but he is no bender, and therefore he is inferior to anyone with bendidng ability. Even though I guess he could take on Zuzu." Azula laughed herself. Ty Lee was so endearing and Azula found it enjoyable to humour her from time to time.

"But he's so cute!" Ty Lee pressed. Azula sighed.

"Don't push it Tara." She warned jokingly. The men stopped the training and went back to the camp, all of them except for Nagato, who left for who knows where.

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Ty Lee was bored. She had already practiced her acrobatics and her chi-blocking moves, she talked with the girls about Nagato among other things, such as their plans for Ba Sing Se or the still standing issue of Zuko. Ty Lee took note of Azula's interest in Nagato. It was there, even if the princess didn't or refused to see it. Azula told them about the plan of making him join them, which was unusual for the princess to do. So far she didn't consider anyone from outside Fire Nation worthy of an offer to join, much less to actually do so. Imagine the girls' surprise when Azula explained her reasons. Nagato was, according to her, an accomplished warrior and seemed to be an honorable man. So if they manage to honor-bind him into joining them, he would have no other option. Sure, it was the same risk with Zuko. The exile was through way too much shit and he remained loyal despite most of it being caused by his father personally. He was far beyond repair of any sort and, according to some it was only a matter of time before he snaps and changes sides. Those were the rumors going around the Fire Nation for several years now, and as far as the girls knew Zuko remained loyal.

Still they would need to take their time to learn more about him, and that's what Ty Lee would do.

It was almost evening and Ty Lee was walking through the camp. She was searching for Nagato who was nowhere to find. Ty Lee found it harder to keep her optimism seeing how Nagato refused to show up. Does he not like me, Ty Lee asked herself. Did I do something?
As the girl in thoughts arrived at the edge of a camp, and quickly she found herself surrounded by children. The kids' reactions to her arrival varied from an excited squeal to a frown.

"Hello miss painting lady." said a little girl, not older than five years.

"Oh, hello to you too." Ty Lee smiled at the girl. Painting lady was a somewhat fitting way to describe a Kyoshi warrior. "My name is Tara, and yours?"

"It's Lin." the girl in question grinned before asking "Can I help you?"

"Well, actually you can. Have you seen Nagato?"

"Well, that depends..." Lin the little girl smiled slyly "I might as well seen your boyfriend, but you'll have to teach us some of those tricks of yours."

"My boyfriend-oh... Oh. Alright." And so the blushing teen went on to show off her cartwheels and flips.

The kids were hyper, that was for sure. They were running around for the most part, shouting and laughing. They did, however, pay attention solely to Ty Lee when she cartwheeled around or when she stood on her hands. The children cheered in awe as Ty Lee walked upside down effortlessly. The little girl and a few others actually tried to do a cartwheel, but none of them succeeded much to their chargin. The best they managed was a handstand. Still they had a lot of fun, and Ty Lee nearly forgot about the swimming she was planning to do. She remembered only after a long while, and so she excused herself and asked Lin to uphold her part of the deal.

"I don't know where he is." the little girl smiled innocently "you might have better luck asking the other painting ladies. The one not frowing gave him some rather... interesting looks."

Ty Lee thanked her and left, unsure how such a young girl could even notice such things. Then again, Ty Lee grew up with Azula so she shouldn't be that surprised. As she left she heard a woman berate Lin for being mean to adults.

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Ty Lee eventually gave up her search for Nagato, changed into clothing that resembled a swimsuit, undid her hairdo and let her long hair loose. She also got rid of the make-up for now, since it would only get in the way. As Ty Lee reached the pond, she passed the waterfall and she heard... something. The acrobat stopped in her tracks and listened. It was music, foreign, aggressive tribal-sounding music. It was coming from behind the waterfall. The music had her curious, and so Ty Lee walked through the curtain of water into a cave.

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Nathan:

I was excited about the prospect of stopping here for a number of reasons, but the main one was this hidden cave. It offered all the comfort an earthbender could make and all the privacy I so much miss when travelling with the refugees. I've treaded this route once before with a different group. How did I find this place? I stumbled upon it by accident when swimming in the pool by the waterfall. It was during the night and thanks to that I'd noticed the green glow of the crystals from inside the cave. When I made my way inside I found myself in a small pool of pure water that seemed to magically glow. Upon getting a closer look I'd found out the floor was littered with small glowing green crystals. The place resembled the spirit pool in the North Pole, just without the fish and the grass. Just rock, water and the crystals. It was beautiful.

And so I made it my own sanctuary. With help of my bending I raised some pillars to serve either as visuals or as a substitute for a punching bag, I earthbent some equipment for working out.

That was what I was doing right now inside my secret dojo. I was beating the shit out of a huge chunk of rock using only my fists and legs. My phone laid put on a small table-rock and was currently playing a training playlist from times before all this crazy otherworldly shit. The current song was Bullet to the Brain by 2Pac, one of my favorites. It sounded like it was made for combat training. I loved to train with music on the highest volume possible, and didn't really think that it could attract attention, not from here anyway.

I was wrong, as I found out when the next song started playing. I sat down by the pool to relax for a moment and as I did so I've seen something. With the change of track arrived a girl I didn't recognize. She was gorgeous. First off - her boobs - I mean eyes. Both, actually. Damn. She had long brown hair that almost reached her hips. Her eyes were gray and deep. And she was wearing only her underwear... oh, wait. It was a swimsuit. As I was looking at her current clothing my eyes obviously decided to wander off somewhere else... Like her waist and hips. I felt heat raising to my cheeks. Bad eyes, now I was probably blushing. Couldn't blame them though, the sight before me was, well, very pleasant.

"Um... hello." the girl said and took me out of my thoughts, which were by the way becoming more and more perverse by every moment.

"Hey, nice seeing you there." I said and she blushed "first off, do I know you?"

I really couldn't place her, and that was weird as she had looks like these. I've tried to recall where I met her, only to find nothing but a vague feeling of familiarity. That was bad, and I probably shouldn't have said that. Yeah, I really shouldn't have said that. Now she was looking down on her feet in shock mixed with sadness.

"You don't recognize me?" she asked as she tried to keep herself from crying, or so it seemed. "That's just.. rude, Nagato. Did I do something to you?"

'Oh... Oh fuck. Now I know why she seems so familiar, it's Tara. You know, the Suki who wanted to go swimming with you. The cheerful one.' Oh, thank you brain. Fucking thank you. Now you do your work. Wow. Just wow. I hated myself for not recognizing her now. Shit. She looks really sad. Do something! And do it now! But what am I supposed to do to calm her down? It isn't like I am a psychologist now, is it? Psychologist. Yeah, those fuckers talk all the time! That's it! Just talk to her! Say something, apologize or whatever. And no, I'm not panicking you're panicking!

"I'm sorry Tara, don't cry! No, sorry. Look at me." I blurted in matter of seconds. Now I had her attention. Now just not mess it up. "Look, I just didn't recognize you without all that make-up. Like, I'm sorry. It's just a bit of a shock when a gorgeous girl just walks out of nowhere."

And there we go again, she's blushing. Tara's tears disappeared, and they were replaced by a shy smile. "It is?"

"Of course it is." I grinned at her "I was in the middle of training when you showed up."

Tara opened her mouth, only to close it without saying anything. We stood there, both of us in questionable clothing, both looking at each other and both beginning to feel embarrassed.

So, here we go again. Sorry for the wait, I've encountered some complications when writing this chapter. Namely the whole thing being deleted by m oh-so-messy-computer. Number two would be the fact that even this si but a portion of what I originally wanted to post. So, the plot is divided into two, maybe three chapters. Again, tell me what you think!

Also, a quick questions. Do you want Nathan to go and date 'Tara'? Another question is: Do ya want de lemons? If so, then do you want them now or are you willing to wait around… four? Five? chapters?

Thanks again,

Khai