The Return
Having the Fire Nation as escorts turned out to be not as horrible as Nara had been expecting. The day after they had first met, the Fire Nation captain came back aboard and insisted they bring in their sails and be towed into port, despite Gold Pants' protests. That was fine by Nara, as it meant she no longer had to tend to the sails and could spend her time below deck avoiding the Fire Nation troops.
This was also a surprisingly easy task as they never came aboard their ship again after that second meeting. So, her days were filled with either staring at the wall or chatting up Gold Pants. Although she probably would have had better luck asking the wall questions as Gold Pants only ever responded in grunts or made the same complaints about how bad the Fire Nation was at a sailing.
His lie about selling supplies in the colonies also meant that despite only agreeing to take Nara as far as Chin Village, they would now be travelling all the to Kasai Koroni. Gold Pants paced back and forth muttering to himself the entire day when he realized how badly his schedule had been messed up.
After two and a half long weeks at sea though, they finally spotted land. The Fire Nation ships cut them loose after passing by Wind Chime Island and let them sail into port themselves. Nara felt like she had been punched in the gut as she looked back at Wind Chime Island as she lowered the sail one last time.
She considered asking Gold Pants to drop her off on the island itself, but decided against it after realizing how weird it would seem to be dropped off at a supposedly abandoned island. It would be easy enough for her to get there on her own. Even if she couldn't ask someone to ferry her over, she could always swim there.
They made port at one the many available docks easily enough. Nara finished securing the boat and turned to see Gold Pants angrily discussing matters with a port official who had come to inspect the ship's manifest.
Nara tip-toed by them and gave a small wave to Gold Pants as thanks. He was much too busy arguing with the official to notice her though.
Once clear of the crowded docks, Nara pushed her way into the city. Although she was eager to get back to Wind Chime Island, going for a swim in the harbor was going to attract way too much attention. Plus waiting for night would give her an opportunity to explore the new city, something she was always game for.
Nara gave one last glance towards her eventual destination before heading down one of the city's streets.
After the tearful extravaganza that was the boy's mother seeing her son wake up the mood had completely changed. She dropped all her previous distrust and instead graciously offered for all of them to stay the night with her.
Noa was so exhausted from healing that he was asleep until dinner was served, although he could pass off this exhaustion easy enough after leading them through the swamp the previous night. Besides, they all took a rather generous nap as well.
Dinner was a wonderful affair. The mother, Lesu, could not stop praising Noa over healing her son. Noa did his best to take the comments in stride but it was quite clear to Mina he was beginning to feel uncomfortable. What wasn't clear though was why he felt that way. To perform such a spectacular act of healing, she had no idea why someone would hide such a gift.
"Where did you learn to heal like that?" Her own curiosity easily overpowered her concern for his privacy. Besides, it wasn't like she outed him as a waterbender.
He scrunched his face in a look of fury before shifting back to a look of pure indifference, too quick for anyone to notice unless they had already been studying him. "My mother taught me a few things growing up. The North Pole isn't an easy place to survive."
"I didn't realize there were scorpion leeches in the North Pole." Kal interjected, clearly not believing Noa's vague answer.
"Well my mother was a healer for the tribe. She knew a lot about all kinda of injuries."
Before Kal could counter his lacking explanation again, Lesu cleared her throat. "No matter how you learned to heal, I could not be more grateful for you saving Lee's life. I insist on all of you staying in my home until you are well rested enough to travel again." She turned in her chair to look at the room where her son was resting peacefully. "My husband should be home within the week. I don't know where you are headed, but he has friends in a nearby harbor town that will take you anywhere you need to go."
Noa and Kal stared holes into each other as they silently debated whether or not to stay. "Where are we going?" Mina asked, sick of the silent argument. She remembered having briefly discussed the Pavana Mountains as their final destination, but travelling through the swamp seemed to have caused a shift in everyone's priorities
"Yu Dao. I have a place there we can stay at." Kal offered quickly.
"No, we are heading north. The point of this journey is to get further away from the Fire Nation, not insert ourselves into a nest of them." Noa continued glaring at him.
"Better to hide in plain sight."
"That makes no sense."
"You make no sense!"
The two of them were always quick to bring out the other's more immature side.
"Uhh, guys." Mina gestured at Lesu, who was staring at them with a nervous smile.
"I should go check on Lee." She gave them an easy enough out as she slide quietly into the boy's room before shutting the door behind her.
"Why are we even travelling together still? I don't need your help." Noa restarted the argument the second Lesu left the room.
"We made a deal. I helped you get your friend's body back. As soon as we find the Wolf Pack you are supposed to get me the Axe and then we never have to see each other again." Kal was more than happy to continue arguing as well.
"That was when I thought travelling with you would actually be a help. But so far, all you provided was two extra bodies for me to drag through the swamp."
Kal muttered something indistinguishable under his breath. "Fine. Jay and I will leave tonight." He stood up from the table. "Good luck on your journey." He left no room for any more discussion as he rushed out of the house to prepare the ostrich horses. Jay's eyes widened in surprise, clearly not used to Kal giving up so easily, before following suit and leaving the house.
Now it was Mina's turn to glare at Noa. "I don't see why we couldn't keep travelling with them. They did save us back at the oasis after all."
Noa's jaw went rigid at the mention of the oasis. "That doesn't matter." He stared at the door Lesu had gone into. "We should leave tonight as well."
She frowned at the suggestion. "But we just got here."
"It isn't safe to stay somewhere for long."
"Is this about your bending?" Mina had long since noticed a change in his demeanor ever since he had healed Lee. She had wanted to chalk it up to either exhaustion or him being around Kal, but with Kal now gone and him having slept basically all day, it was clear the tension was from something else
"No." His tone was completely flat. "Let's go." He followed the growing trend of storming out of the house leaving Mina to gather the napping Etain from the other room.
Mina hesitated for a moment outside of Lee's room, before leaving without a word of farewell to Lesu.
Kane left Wind Chime Island the next morning, saying something about needing to attend to pressing matters in one colony or another. He gave her vague instructions on how to contact him secretly, but his words fell on deaf ears. It mattered little to Malu, her only priority was to find her people.
It had been weeks since she had heard Owyn's voice calling out to her desperately. If her mind hadn't been so focused on finding Wan Shi Tong's library she may have been able to tell that Owyn had never returned to Wind Chime Island.
Malu shook her head at the thought, lamenting over the past was pointless. Besides, finding Owyn should prove easy enough. She sat down in the lush gardens and the compound and began her meditation.
"Owyn" Her voice carried across the endless plane, his name reverberating in her mind.
The black abyss gave no answer.
"Owyn!" Her echoed voice seemed to carry on endlessly yet still there was no response.
The young boy finally came into view. "Malu!"
It was good to see a smiling face again and she couldn't help but give in to his jovial state. "It's good to see you as well. Are you with the others?"
Owyn's eyes brightened. "Yes, but there's more of us! We found other airbenders."
Malu's heart was suddenly in her throat. "Really?" She finally managed to choke out. "Where are you?"
Owyn shook his head once before responding. "It's too far for you to reach by glider, we will meet you with a bison at Wind Chime Island."
Malu crinkled her nose. "At least let me get a head start, I'm dying to get out of this place."
He scratched the top of his head for a second before nodding his consent. "Meet us here." His eyes closed and suddenly the black abyss melted away.
They now stood in front of a small cave at the base of a towering mountain. Malu had never been here, yet how to find this place came to her like an old memory.
"What is this place?" Something about it seemed so familiar to her.
"I'm not really sure. We found an old map on a stone tablet here and when I touched it, I had a vision of us at this place." He rubbed at the back of his head before offering a small smile.
Questions whirled around her head, but she quieted them. There would be time enough for questions later. Only one thing mattered to her now. "I'm coming."
"I am sorry Kiron, but this is a journey I must make." Tuyen hardly spared a glance to the younger master as he secured Vania's saddle.
The morning after his disastrous speech to the Air Nation survivors, Kiron awoke to see Tuyen was already preparing to leave their newly discovered safe haven.
"Master, all the airbenders here are looking to you to guide us through this tragedy. Leaving us now will leave a lot of confusion in your wake, myself included." Kiron chose his words carefully, hoping not to upset the man after his episode just yesterday.
Tuyen's eyes found Kiron's before he closed them, deep in thought. "Kiron, I have done nothing to earn their respect. The bison led everyone to this island and the other survivors were doing fine without me here. You will continue to survive without me."
"Your survival is just as important as ours and leaving this island is a death trap."
"There are other survivors out there that still need help."
"And how do you plan to find them?" Kiron was struggling with the urge to shout at the other man's stubbornness.
The question hung in the air as Owyn walked into the clearing with them, confusion written across his face. "What's going on?"
Tuyen groaned inaudibly, he had hoped to avoid the young boy. "Vania and I are going searching for other airbenders."
Owyn cocked an eyebrow. "But I just spoke with Malu using my powers…" He trailed off, still uncomfortable with his newfound gifts. "She is on her way here."
"I will see her when I return then."
Kiron had bit his tongue long enough. "Master, this is a bad idea. Owyn still needs training and who better to help him with his seer powers than you?"
"I know of someone, and I am going to find him." He hopped onto Vania's head and grabbed hold of her reins. "Farewell boys, I shall return soon."
The conversation died in the wind of Vania's take off as the sky bison took to the skies. Tuyen had one destination in his mind; the Northern Air Temple.