"Hey, lemme go!" Norii told the two Ember guards holding her arms. "Didn't you hear what I said?!"

"Quiet!" said one guard, and he and his comrade pulled Norii across the rocky path of the Great Divide, hot air brushing against everyone's mask. The Fire Region was the same after many years, filled with lava flows running down red mountains.

The guards were the same too, having taken her captive the moment she tried to enter the area. The two Ember Guards dragged Norii by a dozen or so more on the rocky path she had taken from the Stone Region. Every Ember Guard all glared at this stranger in their territory as she was brought to a lieutenant sitting cross-legged on the ground. "What is it?" he asked, sounding bored.

"We've found this rock-head crawling around our post," explained the guard on Norii's other side, and she pulled the child forward to show her superior.

For only a second, the lieutenant looked from his silver shield to Norii. "Put her back in the Stone Region. We don't have time to deal with rock-heads."

"H-Hey!" Norii began to object to both the insult and the order, but the two guards began dragging her back the way she came. "Listen, I need to talk to Protector Ignar! It's important"

The female guard pulling Norii laughed. "Yeah right! Like we'd let a rockhead see our protector!"

"Please, I-!"

"Hold it!" another voice cut in. It was deep and familiar enough to everyone, Norii included, that the slacking Fire Tribesmen stood to attention as O'nah of the Ember Guard walked up the slopes of the Great Divide. Even Norii's 'escorts' stopped where they were to face their captain.

"C-captain O'nah!" the lieutenant stuttered, bringing his head to his mask in a salute. "We weren't expecting you, sir! It is an-!"

O'nah, armed with his obsidian shield, cut him off. "Enough. Now explain to me what is going…" O'nah trailed off, and his eyes widened at the girl of the Stone Tribe about to be taken away.

The lieutenant spoke again. "Ah, yes. They found her sneaking around. She might've been lost, but we can't take any chances with a nameless nobody-"

"Norii?" O'nah uttered. Then, his eyes glared hot daggers at the lieutenant and everyone else. "Let her go, at once! Can you fools not recognize the daughter of your own protector!?"

Though the two Ember Guards obeyed, they and their colleagues whispered all around. They didn't care if Norii could hear them. After all, she had been in the Stone Region longer than in her home. To them, she was the "half-baked" daughter who left their protector after the invasion ended years ago. Captain O'Nah quickly pulled Norii away from the nasty hissings of his men. "Norii, what are you doing here?" he whispered quietly once the two were out of earshot.

"I wanted to see father," Norii answered, sparing a brief glance to the talking guards. "Rumors have been going around back home. Uram. The Toa. I thought I'd even saw his entourage pass by while returning a few days back! I… I wanted to make sure he was alright."

O'nah groaned with a softness that his own men would say was uncharacteristic of him. "This isn't the desert, Norii! You cannot simply waltz around wherever you want! You have to return now!" O'nah said, and Norii almost jumped when he pulled her away by her wrist.

"W-what? Where are you taking me?!"

"Back home!" O'nah said once he was out of his men's sight. "You cannot be here, Norii! The protector is at odds with the other tribes, as is. He has already doubled the guards at the border. Anyone outside of the tribes may only be casted out, at best!"

"But he's my-" Norii said but O'nah cut her off.

"And you know his temper! If you appear to him, it will only cause more difficulties! Come, I know a way so you can head back without any trouble!"

"No! I'm not going until I see him!" Norii shouted, stomped her foot and pulling back on O'nah.

Stopping, O'nah whirled to patiently glare at Norii. "Child, do not make this difficult for either of-"

"What about all your speeches about family? Well, we're related, too! Did you forget about that?!" Norii argued. Her free hand gripped O'nah's, and she looked at him pleadingly. "Please, Uncle O'nah! I need to see him!"

Staring back into those unwavering eyes, O'nah froze. Norii feared her words were lost on him. "By the elements, you are like him," he mumbled before letting go. "I never expected you to remember my words. You were little, then."

"It's hard to forget those kinds of words," Norii admitted, dimming her flame from before.

"I suppose," O'nah hummed and turned. "Come on. We should hurry before we miss him… but don't say I didn't warn you."

Norii silently followed O'nah down the Great Divide and deep into the Fire Region.


It didn't take long for Norii to find her father, and he was still where O'nah said he was, thank the elements. His temper was as Norii remembered. His voice flailed around like the volcano whose he stood at, while workers scoured its broadside. "Keep digging! I don't care if you hit lava! I want this job done by the end of the day!"

Everyone else carried on, and none dared to stop O'nah from passing by. The workers were too busy and the Ember Guard stepped aside out of respect. They did glare at Norii trailing behind him. Heading up the volcano, O'nah only focused on Ignar and the personal guard surrounding him.

"I am here to see the protector," O'nah announced, but the guardsmen and their bright orange shields didn't move. "Have you not heard me? Why do you block my way?!" O'nah demanded, and Norii guessed why as she looked from behind him.

"What is going on?" Ignar called a second later, and his mask popped over the wall of his personal guard to find O'nah. "Flame-brother? Why have you returned so soon? Does this have to do with Ruka again? I ordered that any outsider is to-"

"This is no outsider, protector," O'nah said respectfully as he moved aside. "She is of our flame."

With all she had, Norii pushed her legs forward from her uncle's side. She tucked her shaking arms to her sides to keep them still, and her blue eyes slightly shook as she looked at the Protector of the Fire Region. "Hello… father…" she at last said.

Despite his silence, Ignar pushed through his guards like they were melted metal. His feet scratched the heated rocks and in front of his daughter. Norii instinctively stepped back and began to have second thoughts. "What are you doing here?" Ignar's voice had simmered into a whisper, but the demand was strong enough to make Norii swallow.

"I… News has been going around, you know… and I… I wanted to see you…" After saying the sheepish words, Norii berated herself for sounding so childish. Then again, what else could she say? It had been years since they had seen each other.

"Is that all?" Norii nodded, and Ignar stood straight and spoke with his usual bravado. "Well, I am doing well. I'm afraid you've come here for nothing, Norii. Now, your uncle will take you back where you came from."

Norii balked enough to mirror O'nah's expression. "Father, please just listen-"

"We are facing a great threat, and I can't afford to spare a moment," Ignar said, as if talking down to his daughter. "I have made my orders, Norii. They are for all of the tribe to obey, even myself. If you wish to see me again, then please go."

Norii wouldn't budge. "Is this about Uram?" she called to him instead. She didn't care if everyone else perked up at the name. "If so, I can help! I can have the Stone Tribe listen and-"

Ignar scoffed, showing more of his usual fire. "They won't help! Norii, they're probably doing the same as myself. That is, they aren't putting sand in their masks!"

"They are good people!" Norii objected, her voice matching her father's.

"Wake up, Norii! With Uram back, it's every tribe for themselves! By fire, it always has been that!" Ignar thumbed himself. "I'm doing what I can for my tribe! And I'm going to protect it from any threat that is out there!"

"Even from me? Father, your Ember Guard dragged across the Divide when I tried to enter!"

Irritated enough, Ignar threw up his arms and huffed. "How was I to know?! You never come home, anyway! You just stay there with that frustrating woman!"

"Protector Ferra isn't perfect, but I want to be the best for everyone-!"

"You mean like how your mother was?!"

Norii fell silent, not wanting to dredge up that part of history again. Yet she winced against the strength of her father's words and the harshness behind them. Norii then said, "I'm not her."

Now, Ignar winced. "Norii… I…" he began remorsefully, but his and everyone else's attentions were drawn to an airship flying slightly overhead. "What?! What is one of Torren's boxes doing here?!" Ignar roared with his usual temper.

The answer leapt off the low-hanging airship and landed onto the volcano's broadside where everyone had been working. "Toa Keela?" Norii uttered, surprised to see her tribe's Toa.

The satchel-wearing Keela had the same surprise for a different reason. "Everyone, go! You need to get out of here!" she shouted to all the workers, guardsmen, and others in the vicinity.

Among the confused Okotans, Ignar marched up to the Toa of Iron. His voice drummed his irritation at being interrupted. "And just what are you doing here?! Shouldn't you be back with that blockhead Ferra?!"

"Father, we should listen to her!" Norii said after running to her father's side.

The telescope on Keela's mask widened at the only Stone Okotan among the Fire Tribe. "Norii? You have to return to Stone Tribe at once! Uram may send an Elemental Guardian after them!"

Suppressing a shiver, Norii asked, "Toa, what's going on? Where is Protector Ferra?"

"She's back at the Mask Maker's city," Keela explained, her voice hurried and rushed. Both troubled Norii who never heard that from her Toa before. "Both of you have to listen. Uram appeared in the city! He swore he will be coming after you and your people-"

"Let him come!" Ignar barked, but everyone else's stunned silence said otherwise.

Of the group, O'nah joined in. "Protector, I suggest we listen. We cannot risk everyone's safety here, and a Toa isn't someone to lie like this. We must evacuate everyone-"

"Evacuate?! Our work isn't finished yet!" Ignar argued with O'nah.

Keela stepped in and tried to diffuse Ignar's anger. "I understand finding the fragment is important, but we need to get everyone out of here, now!"

Ignar whirled to the Toa, eyes blazing with defiance. "No! Not yet! We are so close to finding it! There's something here! I can feel it-"

The volcano rumbled, proving Ignar had been right in a way. At the same time, a loud CRACK in its broadside proved the Fire Protector wrong. Lava spewed from the top, then slowly poured through the new and narrow 'V'-shaped crack. Emerging from its top, two fiery claws of an Elemental Guardian made everyone panic.

Of them, Norii felt frozen in the field of fire. Above, the Guardian's anvil-shaped head rose, and Norii almost turned to avoid meeting the molten slits surveying the area below them. Thankfully, Keela stood in the way, a hand on her hammer. "I'll try to hold it off! Get everyone out!"

O'nah got to work first. "Ember Guards, pair up with a worker and get them out of here!" When anyone who hadn't run yet obeyed, he turned to Ignar. "Protector, we must go at once!"

"No, I will stand and fight!" Ignar declared and grabbed a discarded Ember Guard's spear. Norii hadn't seen him like this since the invasion of Okoto. "I will live up to my title as Protector! Flame-brother, get Norii out of here!"

O'nah pulled on Norii before she had a say. Toa Keela remained by Ignar's side, whether he wanted it or not. However, Norii swore the Fire Guardian's eyes were on her, not on her father or the Toa. She was right when its claws fitted inside the crack, then they pushed to the sound of crumbling earth.

The widened crack spread down to the volcano's base, making a hot fissure between Toa and Protector that pushed the two further apart. The former stood her ground, and her hammer blurred against black pieces of rock falling from the volcano's top. More rolled down to be incinerated by Ignar's flame-spitting spear. Smaller than any Toa, though, he fell atop the shuddering ground and left himself open to the other rocks rolling down towards him.

"Father!" Norii shouted, wrenching herself free from her concerned uncle's grasp. She didn't hear him call for her return. She ran, hoping to save her father.

It was not needed. An aura covered the first wave of molten boulders, stopping them in place and destroying themselves along with the next wave. Black pebbles flew in their wake, showering the Fire Protector.

The safe Ignar, O'nah, and Norii turned to the Toa of Iron across the fissure, holding up the golden metal once in her satchel. Given it had the same yellow aura that covered the third wave of boulders, Norii recognized the metal as the one she gave to Protector Ferra almost two weeks ago. "Go!" Keela told Ignar, grunting against the metal's power. "Go while you can!"

"No! And I don't need your help!" Ignar shouted, stubbornly standing up again.

Her uncle in shock, and her father and the Toa distracted by each other, only Norii noted the fully-emerged Guardian. "Toa, watch out!" Norii shouted and pointed to the molten monster down the volcano on two clawed legs.

Keela swung her hand holding the metal, and the boulders followed its path. However, they merely pushed the Guardian to the left a little. Its soot-covered body still ran, towering over even the Toa it had pushed aside. The true target-or targets, Norii realized with frozen fear-laid in front of its path: her and O'nah!

Her uncle pushed her aside. "Norii, get out of-" he said, but a claw swung to catch him.

Then, the Guardian of the Fire Region scooped up Norii in its other hand. The hot 'skin' burned Norii so much that she screamed over the steam sizzling out of her body. Her uncle, a full Fire Okotan, lasted longer before he did the same.

Her Fire-half unable to compensate for her Stone-half, Norii struggled in the Fire Guardian's grasp while it ran off. Where to, Norii didn't know. Dark spots clouded her vision of her father and the Toa beside him, both running and the former reaching out a hand with fervent terror. Norii tried to reach out for her crying father…

… and her hand dropped when the heat of Fire Guardian's claw finally knocked her out.


AN: Welp, if you have read this far, it seems like the story is still going on. And it kinda is. I'm not completely sure on the completion of future chapters, so best play it by ear as to whether or not you will see the next chapter in a couple weeks. Until then, take care.

Raika out.