The librarian flipped through the book a bit until he came to a picture of what seemed like a village burning up, with a figure floating above the devastation. In the clouds far above, four dragons, far more regal looking than the ones depicted in other drawings, looked down on the rest of the scene.

The librarian began: "A legend that, surprisingly, has faded quite a bit in our history, tells of a time when the current Avatar had taken a different path than his predecessors."

"What do you mean?" Lyra asked.

The librarian continued: "Instead of protecting the people, he decided to use his powers for selfish gain. He raided wherever he pleased, and struck down those who opposed him, though we are not sure what drove him down this path."

"What are those four dragons there?" Terran asked, pointing to them on the picture.

"The four elemental dragon gods, the ones who had conspired with the spirit of light to create the Avatar. They had noticed this particular Avatar's rampage and knew they had to intervene to stop it. They each found a specific warrior of their element and bestowed on them a part of their own spirit, giving them elemental power unlike anything before."

Here the librarian turns the page to show a picture of four warriors standing alongside each other, one of the four dragons hovering above each one. In their hands were a katanna, a mace, a pair of sais, and a bo-staff. The next page showed a picture of these same four warriors battling a figure that was obviously the Avatar, and, judging by the way the Avatar was kneeling on the ground, it seemed the warriors were winning.

"The four were able to take the fight to the Avatar himself. The battle was described as almost earth shattering, or so the writings say. What is clear is that the Avatar was struck down and defeated by these four."

"What happened after that?" Lyra asked.

"The four took it upon themselves to do what that Avatar did not, and that was defend the people of the four factions. It seems that they were so effective at this that the dragon gods decided to have them reincarnate just as the Avatar did. Sure enough, when a new Avatar rose, four new warriors, the Dragon Warriors, rose as well and fought alongside him. Unfortunately, that is all this book has on them."

"It's not a lot, but it's something." Ezeke' said, "To think, we could actually defeat the Avatar himself…"

"Yeah, it's giving me goosebumps too," Terran said, "But we shouldn't let that get to our heads; we still have a duty to uphold."

"Right, right," Ezeke' said.

"Then, if you are here," the town leader said, "Then the Avatar himself can't be that far behind."

"We recently just got our powers, actually," Lyra said, "We're still looking for him, as well as our fourth member, the Air Dragon Warrior."

"The problem with that is that the Air Nomads were wiped out a long time ago, so it will be impossible to find an airbender anywhere." Ezeke' said.

The leader and librarian looked at each other for a few moments, then turned back to the trio.

"That actually might be in error." The leader said.

"What do you mean?" Terran asked.

"Some Air Nomads made it out alive from the attack and made refuge in both the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. There are actually a few families that live here now."

"Wait, WHAT?!" Ezeke' asked jumping out of his seat.

"It's true. Come to think of it, that may have been why the Fire Nation attacked us just now."

"We'll need to meet with them," Ezeke' said, "If the Warrior is among them, we need to find him and recruit him."

"Or her," Lyra said, "It doesn't always have to be a guy."

Terran smacked her in the head, "Not the point, Lyra"

"How will you know if he or she is the Warrior?" the librarian asked.

Ezeke' lifted his helmet a bit to show them the dragon tattoo on the back of his neck, "We each have one of these as a marker of our power. If the Warrior is here, he or she will have one too."

"So, what? We just check every Air Nomad's neck until we find a dragon tattoo?" Lyra said, "That's gonna make us look kinda weird."

"Do you have a better idea?" Ezeke' asked, "I'm not seeing very many options here."

"I might be able to get word out among them," the town leader said.

"How?" Ezeke' asked.

"I can put out a message to the people, asking the Air Nomad refugees if any of them have a dragon tattoo, one that strangely appeared, like the ones you bear, and ask them to come to me. Once I can guarantee them that it is for a good cause, I'm sure one might show up."

"It's certainly better than checking everyone's necks ourselves." Terran said, "I say we go with that."

Ezeke' nodded, "I agree."

"Excellent," the leader said, standing up from his seat, "I shall go put the message out immediately, where would you like them to go to should he have the tattoo?"

"Here in the library will be fine," Ezeke' said, "We'll stay here and continue reading."

The leader nodded and walked out of the building. Meanwhile, the librarian turned to the warriors and said: "Feel free to look through whatever books you like while you wait."

"We will," Ezeke' said, "Thank you."

…

The hours dragged on for the warriors as they waited for the potential Air Nomad to show up. Luckily, being in the library, they had more than enough options to keep themselves entertained, and as it were, it had some pretty interesting books too. Unfortunately, none of them had anything more on the Dragon Warriors, which disappointed the three of them.

"It's been quite a few hours," Terran said, "You would think if the Air Dragon Warrior was here, he'd have shown himself by now."

"Maybe it's just taking a little longer for them all to get the message," Lyra said.

"Well, whatever the case," Ezeke' said, "We can't give up now. We need to give them more time."

"I hope you're right about this," Terran said.

"Yeah, me too."

About another hour passed, it was about evening at this point, and the three were just about to break for dinner when the door to the library opened. At first, the warriors did not think much of it; people had been going in and out of the library all day, but then as they continued to leave, they realized they were being approached by someone. It was an Air Nomad, but they could only tell by the blue arrow on her forehead and hands, She had a light complexion, blue eyes, and short brown hair tied in a braid that hung over her shoulder. Her outfit was similar to that of Lyra's, but the color scheme was much different: being a deep yellow and outlined in red. To top it off, a bo-staff was slung over her shoulder.

"Excuse me," she said meekly, "Are you the ones looking for an Air Nomad with a tattoo?"

"Depends on the tattoo," Terran replied.

The girl turned around and moved her braid a bit to reveal a winding, streamlined eastern dragon on the back of her neck.

"Where did you get it?" Lyra asked.

"I'm not sure," the girl replied, "I just found this staff one day, and when I used it to help practice my airbending, I suddenly felt this new surge of energy. The tattoo probably came sometime during that."

"Yup, she's gotta be it." Terran said.

The girl shied back a bit: "I'm not in trouble, am I?"

"On the contrary," Ezeke' said, "Your life probably just got a whole lot better."

As he said this, he turned around and lifted the back his helmet, showing his own tattoo. Terran and Lyra did the same. The girl stared in amazement.

"You're one of us," Ezeke' said, "A Dragon Warrior."

"What's a Dragon Warrior?" the girl asked.

"We'll explain everything," Terran said, "But let's do it over dinner."

The four found a decent place to get some food. Even better was that they let the warriors in for free as a way of thanking them for saving the town from the Fire Nation. As the four sat down to eat they began to speak with the girl a bit more to learn more about her. The girl's name was Ana Mare. She was the descendant of an Air Nomad refugee and as such, inherited the ability to airbend. Learning this, she immediately wanted to learn it, which her airbending mother was more than happy to help with.

"How far are you in your training," Ezeke' asked.

"I just started learning the more advanced moves," Ana said, "So I'm probably less experienced than you guys."

"As long as you can use your powers and fight," Ezeke' said, "I don't really care that much."

"Well, I am good with some martial arts." Ana suggested.

"That'll work."

Terran scoffed: "Earthbenders don't need martial arts. So long as we have the power of the earth, we control the battlefield."

Lyra blushed: "Uh, guys?"

"What?" Ezeke' said.

Lyra waited a few moments before saying: "I can't fight."

"WHAT?!" Terran said, "Then what was that at the well?"

"That was waterbending," Lyra argued, "I mean I can't fight hand to hand like you guys."

"But you're the one with the big knives!"

Ezeke' leaned over to Ana and whispered: "Looks like you're not as outclassed as you thought." Ana just giggled.

Once Ezeke' managed to get Lyra and Terran to calm down, Ana asked him: "So, what are Dragon Warriors?"

"They're a team of guardian benders who are more powerful than everyone but the Avatar on their own, however, when united they can defeat the Avatar in battle." Ezeke' explained.

"Our duty is to aid the Avatar in protecting the free peoples from threats," Terran continued, "Or resist the Avatar should he become out of control."

Ana listened in shock as they continued to explain what they knew of the Dragon Warriors. When they finished, she said: "This is bigger than I thought. What do you guys plan on doing?"

"For the time being, we'll be sticking to the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe territories," Ezeke' said, "We'll protect the best we can until the Avatar shows up. Once he does, we'll find him before the Fire Nation does, and join him in restoring peace."

"Wow, that was remarkably straightforward." Ana said.

"Yeah, we had a lot of time to plan," Lyra said, "We were planning to find the Air Warrior on the way though; we had no idea you would turn up so fast until the town leader told us there were Air Nomad refugees that had come here. It's amazing that some of you had survived."

"Yeah, we're tougher than we sound." Ana said.

"So, you coming with us?" Ezeke' asked.

Ana thought for a bit, then said: "Alright, I'll come. Don't think I have much of a choice anyways."

"Awesome!" Lyra said.

"Indeed," Ezeke' said. It was here that their food finally arrived, in which Ezeke' said, "Let's eat now. We'll need our strength for the road ahead."

"Where are we going?" Ana asked.

"Well, THIS one here," Ezeke' replied, jabbing his chopsticks at Lyra, "Decided to stow away in our cart, so my plan is to go back to her village to let them know where she's been."

Lyra blushed: "I'm sorry, okay?! I didn't know what you would say if I asked to go!"

"Uh huh, sure." Ezeke' said, and then Ana giggled as Lyra then looked like she might spasm out in frustration at Ezeke's comment, but she eventually calmed down. After that, the four ate in silence, then went back to their room. Once there, they placed their weapons on the coat hanger and then immediately crashed on the beds; they were too tired to say anything else. All except for Ana, who was still looking for a bed to crash on as there were only three. She was about to consider trying to squeeze in with someone else, when Terran got back up.

"Sorry about that, I didn't realize there were only three beds until just now," he said, "You can take this bed. I'll crash on the couch."

"Oh, are you sure?" Ana asked.

"Of course," Terran said, "Enjoy." And he walked over to the couch and plopped down on it. Ana walked over to the bed and smiled as she lay down; she had a feeling that she was going to enjoy being with these guys, but she had no idea that what came next was going to change her life forever.

…

The next morning, the four warriors got themselves ready to head back south. After letting Ana's parents know about what was going on, they, surprisingly, consented to her going with the team. After a quick breakfast and sendoff, the four were on their merry way back south to the Water Village. After a few days, the terrain changed from the rocky mountains to frigid ice; they were getting close. Ezeke' was fine in the cold; firebenders were barely affected. Terran and Lyra were doing fine as well, but Ana had never been in cold, and she sat shivering like crazy.

"Y-y-y-y-you lived h-h-h-here?" she chattered.

"Yeah," Lyra replied, "You get used to it after a while."

Terran pulled a blanket from the back and wrapped it around Ana. She smiled at Terran.

"Thanks," she said. Terran smiled back.

Suddenly, they saw a massive blue light shoot up some distance in front of them. After a few moments, it was gone.

"That was new." Lyra said,

"What was that?" Terran asked.

"Not sure," Ezeke' replied, "but something tells me it's important."

"It kinda felt powerful," Ana said. Everyone looked at each other; Ana was right, and that meant only one thing; the Avatar.

"We need to hurry," Ezeke' said, "No doubt the Fire Nation saw that too."

Flicking the reins hard, the cart doubled the pace heading to the source of the light.