With Determination

The investigation wasn't progressing.

That was all Karai could think about as she ate her evening meal in her father's company.

Luckily, Saki was also lost in his thoughts, and she didn't have to make conversation.

When Donnie, Mikey and Angel had discovered Leonardo's secret, she had of course been concerned about the safety of said secret - Donnie and Mikey were children after all, and she didn't know how trustworthy Angel was - but she had also felt hopeful that their help would lead to a breakthrough in their understanding of the recent events.

But nothing, neither good nor bad, had happened.

She remembered how excited Donnie and Mikey had been upon learning that their brother was a waterbender. She had done her best to explain to them why waterbenders weren't exactly thought highly of in the oasis, telling them that an evil waterbender had threatened the oasis centuries ago, but sparing them the details.

Angel had been curious about the well, especially as Leonardo had accompanied Bishop there on the morning of his disappearance. Karai was almost persuaded to go back there - but be it because they hadn't completely lost hope of finding hints about Leonardo's whereabouts or for another reason, there were more patrols in the desert these days, and the guards at the gates took their duty at heart.

They couldn't go out unnoticed.

Karai took another spoonful of stew. It was delicious, her heart just wasn't in it.

Someone knocked at the door.

It immediately awakened Karai's interest. Who would want to disturb her father at such a late hour?

It had to be important.

Saki frowned and stood up. As he went to the door and opened it, Karai tried to see who the intruder was; but her father's large frame was hiding them from her view.

When Saki went back to the table, he had a scroll in his hands.

"Interesting news?" Karai asked, her voice carefully neutral.

"Hmm." Her father broke the scroll's seal - its symbol looked like a flower, but Karai didn't know which one - and read it.

Karai hoped that he would give her something more substantial to think about, but Saki merely stood up once more.

"My apologies, daughter, but I must take care of a pressing matter. Don't wait for me."

She nodded and watched him leave the room pensively.

She had to read that scroll.

She finished her stew, waiting until she was certain that Saki had left the house. Then she hurried to his study and quickly picked the lock to go inside.

However and to her greatest disappointment, Saki hadn't left the scroll there.

It would have been too easy. Sighing softly, she resigned herself to try again the next day.

Angel followed the teacher's instructions with as much focus as she could muster.

She had trouble focusing these days, but so far it had gone unnoticed by the firebending instructors.

Her mind kept bringing her back to Raphael and his family. It was hard to believe that Leonardo was a waterbender, but Karai hadn't seemed to be kidding - and besides, it was the first beginning of an explanation for why the teenager would have left the oasis.

It still didn't make sense that he hadn't told Raphael, especially as his twin shared his secret.

Angel finished her sequence of moves, hoping that she had done well enough not to attract unwanted attention about her mental state.

Luckily, she had.

The lesson ended and she relaxed a little. She would go to the Hamato house this afternoon, like she did almost every day. Maybe this time one of them would have a new idea?

She began walking towards her home, the beauty of the morning lifting her spirits a little. She loved bathing in the sun, and closed her eyes to better enjoy the feeling.

"Angel?"

She abruptly came back to the world around her.

And blinked. "Yes, Spike?"

As always when she was in front of him, she couldn't help feeling a pang of regret. Spike used to be her best friend when they were children. Then his father died, and he changed completely. She tried to get him to open up to her, and her failure had hurt so much.

And when Angel's own father had died in a sandstorm a few months later, and Spike didn't show her the slightest support - well, she knew their friendship was over.

"I was wondering if you would like to… You know. Hang out? It has been a while." Spike wasn't quite looking at her.

Angel's shock must have reflected on her features, because he grimaced.

"I mean, you don't have to or anything. It's just… You looked distracted today, and I thought maybe you would want to take your mind off things. Uh. Sorry."

"No, that's okay," Angel finally managed to utter. "I'm surprised, that's all."

She looked at him more carefully. He really did look in top shape, more than he had in… years, actually. Slash's absence was doing wonders on him.

But if she was completely honest with herself, and although she didn't want to judge him - she wasn't sure she was ready to trust him again.

"Maybe some other time."

Spike nodded, as if he had been expecting this answer.

His next question surprised Angel.

"You're going to see Raphael's family?"

Angel bit her lip. So he had been paying her enough attention to deduce that?

"I… Yes, actually. I am."

"I'm sorry about what happened to him. He's a good guy."

The conversation was beginning to feel awkward to Angel. "Yes, he is."

"And I'm sorry for his brother," Spike added. "He was courageous. He couldn't have defended himself against Slash, and he still stood against him."

"He is courageous," Angel corrected him automatically. "We don't know he's dead."

Spike grimaced, conscious he had made a misstep. "Of course. I didn't mean to…"

"See you next time," she said, and she left him here.

"… and this morning, I couldn't find that scroll in my father's study either," Karai said. "I think it's still with him."

She was sitting on Michelangelo's bed next to Angel while the twins lay on Donatello's bed, and had just been telling everybody about the events of last night.

It wasn't much of a lead, but it was all they had, and it showed on their passionate faces.

"But what if he destroyed it after reading?" Donatello asked.

Karai grimaced. "Then we'll never know what was on it. My father wasn't exactly willing to talk about it."

"Let's assume he didn't." Angel tilted her head. "Do you have a plan?"

Karai straightened up. "Of course, and I'll need your help." She took a map of the oasis from her bag. "If I believe his official schedule, he's making an inspection of every guard post today. Which means he'll be on the road a lot, and probably not bothering to be accompanied."

She pointed at a line on the map. "This is a shortcut. It's not very frequented because it doesn't cross the city or the villages. He should take it sometime this afternoon. If you could make a diversion, I could search his saddlebag for the scroll, read it and put it back before he notices."

"I have several objections," Donatello said, raising his fingers.

Karai tilted her head. "Go on."

"What if the scroll isn't in his saddlebag? He could keep it in his clothes."

"It could be in his jacket, but it's too hot, he won't keep it. And if I can't find it, well, at least we'll have tried."

Donatello lowered one finger. "What if he realizes what you're doing?"

"Then I'm the one in trouble."

"But what if he realizes we helped you?" Michelangelo sneaked closer to Donatello. "He'll be mad at us too, and he's scary."

Donatello nodded vigorously.

Karai sighed. "I understand. Don't worry, you don't have to help if you don't want to. I'll tell you later what was on that scroll. Maybe."

Donatello frowned and forgot about his other objections, the thought of passing up important knowledge being too unbearable. "No, we want to help! Right, Mikey?"

"Sure," Michelangelo immediately said.

"I'm in." Angel shrugged. "He's your dad. If you think it's okay to trick him that way…"

"Excellent!" Karai clapped her hands, ignoring the second half of Angel's comment. "Then it's settled."

"So what kind of diversion were you thinking about?" Donatello leaned forwards in his excitation.

"Excellent question, Donnie." Karai came to sit next to her cousin and put an arm around his shoulders. "And I thought that you might have an idea. After all, you're an experienced troublemaker."

"Hey, what about me?" Michelangelo asked indignantly.

Karai extended her arm to include him in her hug. "You too, Mikey," she said soothingly. "You too."

A few minutes later, Donatello and Michelangelo were in the kitchen, looking up at their mother with their best pleading expressions.

"So, Mom? Can we go on a walk with Karai and Angel? We'll be very good!"

"We'll take good care of them, Aunt Tang Shen," Karai said. "You don't have to worry about anything."

"As long as you two are home for dinner." Tang Shen smiled. It warmed her heart to know that her youngest sons weren't alone in these trying times.

"Yay!" They both threw themselves in her arms.

She reveled in their hug. She felt lucky to have them; she didn't know how she would endure the uncertainty about the fate of her two other sons otherwise.

The sun was high in the sky and Karai, Angel, Donnie and Mikey were hiding behind a wall, Karai's hand over Michelangelo's mouth.

After the necessary preparations, they had chosen this place to wait for Saki. The wall was made of stone and barely reached the girls' waists when they were standing, but it was also several feet higher than the road itself, which went around a small hill.

So as long as they were crouching, they couldn't be seen from the road.

And now, after more than an hour of keeping watch - and countless rounds of rock, paper, knife - they could hear a horse getting closer.

It's him? Angel mouthed to Karai.

Karai watched through a hole in the wall and nodded. Next to her, Donatello and Michelangelo hopped up and down in anticipation.

From a wave of her hand, Angel lit a wick. It was made of rope and several feet long, and ended on a package put on the road, far enough from the coming horse and the four conspirators that nobody would get hurt.

As soon as the spark reached the package, fireworks exploded in the bright sky.

Donnie could hardly contain his happiness. It had worked! His invention had worked! It made up a little for the disappointment of not having been able to test it during the festival, as was initially planned.

Karai grinned at him and nodded, and Donnie took Mikey's hand for the next part of the plan. Taking advantage of the smoke, the two girls carried them up the wall so they could run to the package.

Just in time. Saki had dismounted and was coming to them, his traumatized but still well-train horse waiting for him behind.

Donnie forced himself not to look at the horse and the shadow that was sneaking next to it. He knew it was Karai; she was the best choice, both because the horse knew her and was less likely to give her away and because Saki couldn't kick her out of firebending training if she was caught, which wasn't Angel's case.

And also, she was his daughter, and she could deal with him.

Now Saki was close enough to see them, and Donnie fidgeted a little. That was the part he liked the least, because he was a little afraid of his uncle. However, Karai had said he wouldn't kill them, and he was inclined to trust her.

Mikey took over. "It was AWESOME, Donnie! I'm sure Raph and Leo will love it when they'll see it!"

Saki stopped dead in his tracks as he recognized them.

"What are you two doing here?" he said severely.

"We're testing Donnie's last invention!" Mikey managed to keep a bright smile. "It's working, did you see it?"

"I saw it alright," Saki grumbled. "What was it?"

Donnie overcame his fear in order to explain. "It's like fireballs, but you don't need to firebend. And it has colors! But it would look better at night."

From the corner of his eye, he could see Karai searching the saddlebag. He couldn't hear her at all, though; either she was very silent, or the noise had deafened him a little.

Saki took a deep breath. "This is dangerous, boys. I'll be talking to your parents about this. And why are you alone? Come with me, I'll take you back."

Saki began to turn around, and Donnie almost panicked. Karai wasn't done! He was going to spot her, especially now that the smoke was dissipating!

"But don't you want to know how I did it? It took me so long!"

"Weeks!" Mikey emphasized.

"And Leatherhead helped to make them, but I was the one to find the formula!" Donnie went on.

Saki rubbed the bridge of his nose. Behind him, Donnie saw Karai wave a victorious arm and disappear over the wall.

A few seconds later, someone called from behind Donnie. "There you are!"

Saki looked at the newcomer, who was, of course, Angel.

"We've been looking for you everywhere!" she scolded. "Don't disappear like that again!"

Donnie was impressed by her talent as a liar.

"Karai!" Angel shouted, turning her head as if she was expecting Karai to come from behind her, aka the opposite side of the road from Saki's. "I found them!"

"Oh, thank you!" Karai said, a little out of breath, as she came running to them. She opened wide surprised eyes. "Father? What are you doing there?"

"Karai?" Saki raised his eyebrows. "I was on my way to the gates when I met them." He pointed at Donnie and Mikey. "You were supposed to watch them?"

Karai took a distressed expression. "We wanted to take their mind off things. You know."

Donnie and Mikey lowered their heads in unison to show how sad they were and how much they needed their mind taken of things.

"So we went for a walk, and Donnie asked if he could try something, and I said yes, but I didn't think they would run away. I'm so sorry, Father."

Donnie admired her skills at lying, too. He glanced at Saki to see how he was reacting. He seemed unhappy, but not enraged like Donnie had feared.

"This invention is dangerous. They shouldn't be testing it without an adult."

"We just wanted to be sure it would be ready for Raph and Leo's return," Mikey said in a small voice.

Which seemed to be the last straw for Saki, because he finally turned around.

"Try not to lose them again from your sight," he merely said to Karai before going back to his horse.

Karai winked at Donnie.

Told you so, she mouthed.

"So, did you find the scroll?" Angel asked excitedly.

They were all gathered in Karai's hideout, in high spirits because of the success of their plan.

Karai nodded. "Yes. I was able to read it and put it back. I don't think my father will suspect a thing. Great job, guys!"

Donatello and Michelangelo grinned.

"What did it say?" Angel went on.

Karai's face grew perplexed. "It looked like a biography of Hun."

"Hun?" Angel frowned.

"One of the caravan chiefs. He helped look for Leo." Karai rocked on her cushion. "It was a list of places he had been in, some underlined. The scroll said to watch for him. And…" she hesitated.

"And what?" Michelangelo asked, his eyes wide.

"It wasn't signed, but I think it was Splinter's handwriting."

"Splinter?" Donnie frowned. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know. The seal wasn't his own, it looked like a kind of flower." Karai sighed. "More mysteries."

"But at least we know who our next suspect is." Donatello clapped his hands. "Hun!"

Karai patted his shoulder. "Yes, but let's leave it for another time, okay? I think that's enough excitement for today. Besides, it's almost dinner time. You should go home."

Donatello and Michelangelo reluctantly nodded.

"You'll wait for us before you try anything else, right?" Donatello asked. "Like you've seen, we can be very useful."

"Of course." Karai smiled.

Karai walked silently into the night, all her senses awake.

If her father realized she wasn't home, she would be in trouble.

In so much trouble.

But she had to learn more. This was their first serious lead! And she didn't want to involve Leonardo's brothers in this one.

Because as much as she had known Saki would never hurt them, she had a feeling Hun wouldn't hesitate.

She came in sight of the area where the caravans stayed. As she had already paid Hun a visit, a lifetime ago, she knew where to find his tent.

She didn't exactly have a soundproof plan, but she remembered that the caravan chief had been drinking a lot from a flask at his belt when she had talked to him. If it was his habit, he probably needed to pee during the night.

Which would give her one short opportunity to search his tent.

She was about to leave the relative safety of the bushes that made most of the vegetation here to sneak between the tents when a voice stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Who's there?"

She bit her lip. She knew that voice; it belonged to one of the oasis guards. Did his father monitor the area?

Of course he did. Stupid, she was stupid.

Footsteps came closer to her, and she moved away as silently as she could. She couldn't let him see her. If she was recognized…

Well. Let's just say she could kiss her relative freedom goodbye for the foreseeable future.

"There is someone here!" the guard said loudly, although he wasn't yelling.

Which meant he had reinforcements nearby.

Karai hid behind a bigger bush, hoping he would pass her by without seeing her. The moon was still hidden behind the mountains encircling the oasis and the only light was from the stars. She had a chance…

The guard formed a little flame above his hand.

Karai cursed silently. Now he would definitely see her. She had only one possibility left.

But before…

She waved her hand to extinguish the guard's flame so he couldn't get a good look at her. He let out a surprised cry, and she took the opportunity to run away as fast as she could. There was a maze of rocks nearby that she knew really well, if she could reach it she would lose her pursuer…

"They're there!" the guard shouted.

She kept running. Now she could hear several footsteps behind her…

But she could also see the first big rocks that would hide her.

She was almost there…

Then she tripped over a bush, losing both her balance and precious seconds. She cursed her luck. It might very well make the difference between escaping safely and being caught…

She picked herself up, only to realize her ankle was sore. Luckily it wasn't twisted, but it still slowed her down…

Someone emerged from the maze of rocks and grabbed her waist, guiding her to safety.

"There are two of them?" another guard shouted.

But Karai and her savior were already climbing through the rocks, and soon they had disappeared in the maze.

Karai heard disappointed curses.

"Let's return to our post. We could search for hours in there and still not find them."

She let out a sigh of relief and waited until she was certain they had left to talk to the person next to her.

"Thanks, Angel."

Angel created a little flame that danced between their faces.

"How did you know I would try something tonight?" Karai went on.

Angel shrugged. "Just a feeling."

"Well, I'm glad you had that feeling." Karai sighed, allowing herself to relax. "It was a close one." She patted her ankle carefully. The pain was already receding. "I think I'm good to go. I'd better head home, just in case someone decides to wake my father up."

Angel didn't move an inch.

"So… See you tomorrow?" Karai began to carefully climb down.

"I saw you extinguish his flame," Angel said flatly.

Karai stopped dead in her tracks.

"What?"

"You're a firebender. Why aren't you learning with the others?"

Karai's sigh came from the deepest part of her soul.

"You know, I meant it when I said I should head home," she said after a while. "Why don't you walk with me for a bit?"

Angel silently nodded.

"If your father didn't want to teach you, how did you learn?"

"Raph taught me."

Karai was walking next to Angel, both girls whispering. They kept checking their surroundings, but so far the course was clear.

"He did?"

Angel's surprise was genuine.

Karai smiled. "More exactly, Leo taught me. For about twenty minutes before his brother took over." Her smile disappeared. "It was before he knew he would never be a firebender."

"It must have been hard," Angel whispered.

Karai shrugged. "Yes. He never really talked about it, but I know he was disappointed."

"No - I mean, yes, but I was talking about you. It must have been hard to watch us train and firebend when you weren't allowed to."

"Oh." Karai bit her lip. "Well. It hasn't been easy."

"Are you sure there is no way you can convince your father?"

Karai hung her head. "No. I've tried, before. But he seems to think that if I do, I'll die like my mother." She sighed. "I have almost no memory of her."

"I can relate. I lost my father when I was but a little girl."

They walked in silence for a while. Karai thought about what she was going to do next. Hun was a promising lead, but investigating was going to be difficult if her father was watching him. Besides, there was always the possibility that he had nothing to do with Leonardo's disappearance.

"I want to help you," Angel suddenly said.

Karai frowned. Angel had already offered her help, what did she mean?

Her perplexity must have shown, because Angel clarified. "I could teach you what I know. About firebending."

"You would?" Hope swelled in Karai's heart. "But why? You barely know me."

Angel smiled. "I know enough."