August 1st, 6:00 PM
Kyoshi Island
Mountain Trail
"Where are we going, exactly?" Jacob looked back at his companion. "Tired already? We've got a long way to go. He's hiding out on top of Mt. Kyoshi, and that's still a fair bit south from here. Look on the bright side, it's free endurance training." Suki's head slumped. "The eternal optimist, aren't you? And you try carrying this on your back for six hours without getting tired." He shrugged and turned back to her. "Sure. Hand it over." She blinked as he took the pack off of her and slipped it on. "I didn't think you were going to do it." He shrugged again. "Meh, not a big deal. Feels pretty light, what do you have in here anyways?" Her face was even as she said "A pair of backup fans, a spare outfit, casual clothes, war paint, metal polish, and wax. That's over forty pounds, and it's light to you?" He shook his head and grinned. "Here, hold this for a second." He pulled off his scabbard, green hilt sticking out towards her. She grabbed the end and when he let go fell to a knee trying to hold it up. "What the hell is this?!" His grin widened as he clipped it back onto his belt. "Eighty pounds of solid rock and gem, honed to a fine edge. I made it myself, and I would make you some new fans out of the same stuff, but I think it'd be a little heavy." He glanced up at the setting sun. "Speaking of you, it's getting late. Together or separate?" The questioning look made him continue with "Sleeping. I don't mind either way, but I have a feeling you'll prefer one or the other." "Separate!" He nodded. "Alright, go punch a tree or something while I set up your palace, princesa."
He shuffled off the pack and settled into a lotus position. "How much do you weigh? And before you ask, yes it is important unless you'd like to sink into the ground while you sleep." She took a few seconds to answer, but a small "110." finally left her mouth. He looked over at her and nodded. "Sounds about right, healthy weight for fifteen. If you're going to wear those while you sleep, I'd count the clothes." She made no further comment so he got to work. 'Let's see, the roofs were slanted so it must rain here. I'll make sure none can get in then.' He pulled up four thick walls made of stone in a box, and extended two opposing ones to form an upside-down V, with the other sides coming up to seal the gap. Small horizontal slats in the rock opened up from the slanted sides for breathing. 'She's about 5'6 with the helmet, so I'll put the doorway at 5'10 to be safe. Obviously she'll want privacy, let's take the usual design.' A sheen of sweat came over him as a slab of rock separated from the front wall and a rough hinge formed. A small spike poked out of the ground just on the inside, barely a inch from the door. 'Perfect, if I do say so myself. Now for the furniture and bed.' Two pieces of a white mineral melded through the earthen floor, the square centered against the back wall of the room six feet by six feet raising to about knee height flattening out except for two lumps up near the top. The other shaped up into a box with more simple hinges, as good of a dresser as he could make. He got up from his position and bent the door open. Once inside he put his hands on the other gypsum slab and rubbed it gently. "What are you doing?" "Shh. Let me concentrate, I'm still not all that good at this." She watched as the rock seemed to puff up under his touch, going from knee height up to her waist.
Suki touched the bed and stared in amazement as her hand sank into the 'rock'. "It's so soft. How did you do that?" He scratched the back of his head. "Decompression. I could go into the specifics, but the softer the rock, the softer I can make it. Obviously talc is the best because it's the softest mineral around, but gypsum like thi-" Her eyes were scrunched up and he sighed. "Nevermind. Pretty useful, right?" She flopped back onto it, already trusting the surface with her weight. "This is way better than in the village. Do you know how much people would pay for these?" He rubbed his chin. "Well, money is never an issue for me, but there is one small issue with them. They lose their softness after a while, when you pack them back in. That's why I asked how much you weigh. This thing will be pretty much normal stone after two or three uses. Sogni d'oro." He shut the door behind him and left her alone.
'Well, I don't really give a shit what happens to the timeline anymore, it's already completely fucked. It was pretty reckless of me to let her tag along, but I'm sure I can keep her safe.' He stomped the ground and pulled up another slab of gypsum, softening it into something a little firmer than Suki's. He pulled his sword out of it's scabbard, and held it up in the dying light of the sun. The ruby planted firmly at the blade's base glinted, reaching towards his hand. He watched as a thin tendril slowly latched onto his skin, then wormed underneath, taking blood from his system. '?'s Ruby: It desires blood, in exchange for power. It will always make its way back to the person whose blood is currently inside. Capacity: 8.93/10 gallons full. Almost there, just one more gallon and it'll be ready to pop. I still can't believe that putting it in the sword made the whole thing return to me, but who am I to complain?' He resheathed the blade in the simple leather scabbard he'd bought. He put his hands behind his head and stared up at the sky, now ash gray clouds with small streaks of pink and orange running through them. 'I was right, it does rain here. I love sleeping in the rain, it just feels… good. Don't want to get my pants soaked though, better take them off.' He stowed the tan piece of clothing in his inventory and laid back to go to sleep.
August 2nd, 6:00 AM
Kyoshi Island
Mountain Trail
Jacob woke up at the crack of dawn, the sun's rays peeking over the horizon to shine right on his eyes. He sat bolt upright and looked around, then sighed when he realized where he was. 'Still not back home. It's been more than a year since I've been here now, but I still can't get everyone back home out of my head. Snap out of it, idiot, you have a mission to fulfill. Time to get up and train.' He rolled off the bed and onto the moist dirt below him. He put a hand behind his back and pushed himself off the ground. When he was coming down, he switched hands and caught himself. He repeated the process a thousand times before rolling over again, now on his back. A pair of earthen shackles came up and restrained his legs as he started to curl himself up towards his knees, then slowly lower himself back down to the ground. This too he repeated a thousand times, until his body was a sweaty mess.
He tugged his pants on a few seconds before the door opened, revealing a fully dressed Suki. "How was your night? As good as you thought it would be?" She yawned and stretched out, raising her hands over her head and rolling her shoulders. "I'm tempted to stick with you just to sleep on these every night. The kink in my back from yesterday is gone." His head fell forward. "I'm glad I can fix the problems I caused. If my math is right, at a reasonable pace we'll get to him just after sunset. You can't see in the dark, can you?" She stared at him deadpan. "No, no I cannot. Did you think I could?" He shrugged. "Like I said, rumors. We're fighting him at night, so I figured it was smart to ask." She put a hand to her chin. "Why at night if our vision is going to be worse? And if we know where he is, why not launch a surprise attack and just…" her voice slowed a little. "… take him out without a fight?" Jacob nodded. "You're right, that would be a great idea, if it was anyone else we were dealing with. This guy is a spy, and it's not unreasonable that he could know we're coming. I might be able to beat him in a straight-up fight, but there is another option. Do you have any training with swords?"
They continued walking around the mountain as she glanced over at him occasionally, worried look on her face. Jacob ignored it and stared in wonder at the nature surrounding them. Trees surrounded them on all sides, hanging over the path. Gorgeous hues of yellow, red, and orange draped down, sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves. "Beautiful." Her eyes widened and she turned her head away. "I love fall, don't you? The leaves become such pretty colors, and the cool breeze evens out the heat of the sun. It's the perfect time of year to go on a hike with a friend." She turned back and nodded, stepping over a tree root that protruded into the path. "It is. Too bad this isn't a hike." 'At least she didn't object to my calling us friends.' He shrugged. "It can be a journey to exorcize an evil spectre from the island and a hike at the same time. Things usually have more than one side, just like people." He knelt down and touched a hand to the ground. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
He straightened up and looked around them before his eyes locked onto a particular spot in the forest. A gleam of light caught his eye and he stomped the ground, bringing up a wall of rock. A barrage of projectiles thunked into it as Suki unfolded her fans. Jacob reared back one leg and grunted "HAH!" with effort as he kicked the wall forward, cleaving a path through the trees. Someone darted out of the way behind another tree. 'The holes in the ground looked like arrows, and they're fresh. They don't know who they're looking for, only that they're coming this way. I'd better end this fast.' He stomped both feet on the ground like a sumo wrestler and tore up a huge portion of the ground around the tree he'd seen them hide behind. The two halves folded up and he heard a shout. "Checkmate."
He made his way over to the nearly complete dome and the person crushed inside. He frowned when he saw hair as coal-black as his done up in buns. The pained groan of "Just kill me already." echoed out from between the rocks. He rubbed his forehead and made a similar sounding groan. "Hoo boy. I love having to deal with depressed people. You don't really want to die, you just want the pain to end." Eyes as black as her hair glared at him. "What would you kn-" He held up his arm, letting her get a full view of the underside. "These scars are three years old, and they still haven't faded, trying to replace the pain inside with pain from outside. Believe me, I know exactly what you're feeling, because I felt it too. I know you're a pain in the ass, because I was a pain in the ass." The underside of his arms were a criss-cross scoring of scars, so thick in some spots that it made him look pale. "Was?" The single word was filled with more hope than she'd probably had in the last three years of her life. "Yes, was. Opening up to people is the hardest step towards getting better. Is there a parent, a sibling, a close friend you can talk to? Someone you genuinely trust? Because telling someone about your problems… it makes them real." He took down the halves, and she leaned against the tree, now rooted back into the ground. "And when your problems are real, you can face them." She murmured under her breath "Zuko…" then looked up towards him. "I'm leaving." He gestured away from him with an open hand. "Go ahead. If you aren't trying to kill us, we have no quarrel." She wandered off deeper into the forest and he watched her leave.
"Jacob, what was that?" He turned to face Suki, who was staring at him with… reverence? "Ah. She needed help, so I helped her. And that made her lose the will to fight. I dislike killing, but if it hadn't… her guts would be on the ground. I have a hunch about why she was here to begin with, though." She bit her lip and looked towards their destination, the peak they were currently climbing to. "He does know we're coming." He cracked his neck from side to side. "Yeah, that's my bet. He called in reinforcements when he heard I was on his trail. If we're lucky, she's all he got." Suki frowned and turned back to him. "Would now be a bad time to tell you I'm really not?" He scratched his head. "Well, you know what they say, misery loves company. With our powers combined, maybe he'll have a whole platoon."