Chapter Two:

I woke up with my back on an unfamiliar bed. I had not slept indoors in quite some time. It was an odd feeling. I stepped onto the rough wood flooring and felt around. I remembered meeting someone the day before.

I grabbed my walking staff and tapped the floor with it. I stepped out of the door and saw the host sitting down. "Hey thanks for letting me stay the night."

"It's nothing," he said. "I'm glad you helped us out."

"I've heard all sorts of nasty things about the Southern Water Tribe." I replied.

I stepped out of the door into the town. Maybe I could stick around a little. I didn't know.

Suddenly I went alert. I heard rushed footsteps and crashing of branches. The same village quickly collapsed into chaos. Anyone still outside dashed away, some of them found shelter.

A panicked young man flew to the ground and a water tendril pulled him away. Then a whoosh came through the air, followed by a cry of pain. The soldier whipped the man again, and more shrieks of pain pierced the air.

I swung my staff in an underhand swing. The tip off the staff scraped across the ground sending a trail of dirt towards the soldier. A pillar of tightly packed dirt shot up and hit the soldier. I heard a water shot coming towards me.

I ducked to the side and swung my staff, sending another clump of dirt towards the soldier. It slammed his chest, sending him across the ground. I stepped over to the young man on the ground. "Get up and hide." I told him.

I heard more footsteps coming towards me. Three men in front, two behind me. A spray of icicles came at me, and I hurled a spray of dust towards the soldiers. I dove down, letting myself slide across the earth towards the trio.

When I came close, I swung my staff and hit the nearest soldier. It hit his knees with a crunch. I then yanked it backwards and hit another soldier in the gut. Behind me, the other two soldiers charged into the melee, ignoring the panicking young man fleeing away.

I stood up and swung my staff towards a soldier. I felt a splash as the staff hit a blob of water the soldier put over his head. I swung at him again, but a whip struck my back. I heard the whip swing again, and I dug my heels into the ground.

As I broke the ground, I spread the dirt upwards into the air. I dashed out of the soldiers and they stumbled after them. Down another road, a pair of soldiers rushed towards me. I swung towards them and a wall shot diagonally towards them.

Quickly I ran into another soldier. He pointed towards me. "It's him!" he let out a piercing shriek.

Before he could say much else, I raised my hands and the ground raised up and grabbed him, dragging him into the ground. Behind me I heard the sound of water whips. I swung my staff and I threw a chunk of dirt behind my shoulder.

I dashed off as I heard the soldiers fall to the ground. They hit the ground with a hard impact. At this point I was near the edge of town, and I dashed into the tree line. As my feet treaded the ground, I could feel the locations of the tree and darted around them.

Behind me came a rapid series of footsteps. It grew closer then stopped, he was flying through the air. I raised up my staff with a chunk of earth at the tip. It slammed the soldier in the head.

With the most prominent footsteps gone, I listened carefully for other footsteps. I pointed my staff towards an approaching soldier. I sent a wave of rock towards the incline he was climbing.

I felt as he struggled against the crumbling ground he stood on before turning to another soldier. Feeling the rather soft ground under him, I pointed my staff and him and dug a hole in the ground.

As icicles came towards me I dumped dirt into the hole and hurled a clump of earth at the solder. I felt the earth shake as it impacted his chest. Behind me a group of soldiers closed in.

I swung backwards, hitting the nearest soldier. Quickly I swiped again, raising up a wall to block the spray of icicles. Turning around I jabbed towards the wall, and chunks flew out towards the soldiers.

I dashed away as the soldiers stumbled over the broken wall, tripping and collapsing in the process. I kept running and running, and the footsteps after me seemed to fade. "Had they given up? I wondered. "How long would it last?"

After walking through the woods I felt a clear section. It was a path through the woods. Being easier underfoot I walked down it. The ground beneath me felt well worn, Iike it had been walked on many times.

I wondered why such an isolated area would be walked down so often. It felt like it was the same person all of the time. I walked down the path, for once being able to put my worries behind me, despite a quiet nagging feeling it would not last.

I soon came across a small cabin, with an old man standing outside. He seemed awfully unfazed by such a strange unexpected visitor like myself.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I might ask the same."

"No one in particular."

I sighed. "I guess you don't want to say, I won't either."

"Fair enough, but what are you doing?"

"Friend is dead, I left my city to never return." I said. "Now I have problems with the Southern Water Tribe."

"Want my pity?" the old man asked.

"No."

"Do you want my help?" he then asked.

"I guess I could." I said. "If you are capable of even doing that."

"You want to know what I am capable of." the old man dropped into a firebending stance.

I gulped, remembering the White Lotus of old, just what those seemingly frail elders could do. But I wasn't about to back down. I stabbed the ground and a slab of earth flew up.

With a loud whoosh, a blast of flame came at me, bursting the slab into the dust. When he threw another blast, I met it with an underhand swing. A trail of earth rose up and crawled at the old man, growing quickly in size.

It met his blast and exploded. Earth flew everywhere, and I raised my arms to block the flying debris. After the dust cleared the old man stood unfazed. "Enough?" he asked.

"Okay."

After noticing him relax his stance, I did the same. I walked towards him. "So you are the guy I heard about back in town?"

"The one exactly." he said.

"So how come you are living out here."

"Long story," he said.

"I don't think you are in the mood to disclose?"

"Not hardly."

I followed the old man into his cabin. "I don't have much, but you can hang your head here for a while."

I sat down on a wooden chair and leaned against a rough table. "Nice place."

The old man just grunted. "I guess you can rest a little," he said. "So who is after you?"

I leaned up. "As I said, the men are from the Southern Water Tribe."

"I heard of Visola's regime." the old man said. "But I heard it collapsed. I don't hear much in terms of world news, but the Battle of Republic, that is something everyone heard about."

"The remaining soldiers are acting as gangsters." I replied. "Extortion rackets everywhere."

A Water Tribe Soldier stepped through the forest, each step bringing more pain. There was a fallen log nearby, some rest should help.

His broken ribs were so sore no matter how much he tried to heal them. He held water against them and kept the healing going. At this point he could breathe again, but the process was slow and painful.

He sat on the log and saw more of his fellow soldiers. A couple of men worked at broken bones, and a few more surrounded a man with a head wound.

"Can you move it?" he asked a soldier.

The soldier clutched his arm, with a glowing blob of water. He twitched his fingers on his broken arm. "Still hard," he said.

The soldier looked at the man on the ground. Three soldiers attended his head wound. A large gash above his head extended around to his forehead. "Looks bad."

The soldier attending the wound did not respond. "I don't know if he'll make it." said the soldier with the broken leg, as he stroked his kneecap.

"If Nao doesn't just kill him." the soldier replied.

He sighed, first Visola, then Nao. Even without the former, the latter was still a piece of work. But he had nowhere to go, no one to turn to. He was wanted back at the Southern Water Tribe.

Kinto looked into the jail cell. His father Arashi sat in it. His eyes drifted over to Kinto. "You've come to see me?" he said with a dull groan.

"We need to talk." Kinto replied.

"About what?" his father asked in disbelief.

"I just don't think we are done." Kinto leaned in closer, clutching the jail bars.

Arashi rotated his chair, facing towards Kinto. He looked at him. "You want me to come closer, why don't you force me?"

Kinto clutched the bars tighter. "You know I won't."

Arashi leaned back in his chair, "You are all the same, you know." he said. "Bloodbenders, like you and your sister.."

"Oh really, you treat people who can't bend like they don't matter." Kinto shot back. "I remember what Visola told me. She couldn't believe I didn't see people as toys."

"But you still use your bending." Arashi snarled. "You're just another bloodbender." he said.

Kinto sighed. "You still don't understand, do you? It's not what you have, it's what you do with it."

"You'll never learn will you." Arashi growled. "Guard, take me back to my cell."

A door opened up and a guard approached Arashi. He cuffed him and took him away. The guard walked him down a hallway, where arious prisoners sat in there cells. Arashi stared ahead, not making eye contact with them.

Most of the criminals were petty crooks who did not concern Arashi, but a few were Triad members. After the White Lotus collapsed, quite a few were not happy with him. One of them stared right at him, and Arashi made a point to not look back.

Arashi reached his cell and the guard pushed him in. After he left he looked at the man across the hall. "That guy giving you problems?"

Arashi knew this was someone he could trust, not that much where he currently was. "Yeah," he said back.

"I'll take care of it."

Arashi had to give up some names to keep things easy for him. The man across the hall would not be one of them. One person he wanted to bring down was Noboru. That would be difficult.

Noburo was not a known gang member, someone the authorities were after. He was much more respected than that. If only he could prove that connection.

Noburo stood at the edge of a cliff face at the edge of the Northern Air Temple. The mountains stretched out far into the Earth Kingdom. Each peak pierced high up into the sky, empty to all but the Air Nomads.

In another direction was the Ocean. From way high up Noburo could see all the way to the Northern Water Tribe. The view was overall majestic, and Noburo appreciated it on many occasions.

This time he had to put such thoughts aside, he was having a covert meeting. He listened carefully for a couple of benders. An airbender hopped up to the ledge and cushioned his landing.

Soon after an earthbender climbed his way over. "So what are you here for?" Noburu demanded.

The airbender stared back. "I wouldn't speak that way if I were you."

"You have some nerve." the earthbender added. "You think you can just walk away from something so big."

"I don't..."

"...Cut it." snapped the Airbender.

The earthbender approached Noburu. "You meet in person with Arashi and Tsume," he said. "You were his eyes and ears in the Northern Air Temple."

"That's not something that goes away easily." added the airbender. "You can't hide from your past."

Noburo huffed in frustration. "What is it that you two want?"

The earthbender smirked. "I think he's coming around."