Tarno jogged easily through the woods. His robe, singed from his battle to liberate the Earth town whose name he had never even bothered to memorize, was still in his pack. He'd reduce it to what strips could be salvaged and ditch the rest when he had time. For now he had a deadline.

It was a quick pace, but one he could keep up all day if need be. The loose weave of his eyepatch dulled his vision, but not enough to lose depth perception. A small price to pay to avoid the stigma of being Flawed.

He knew he was reaching the end of his journey, and the silence told him what he needed to know. Once again, his information was faulty. If there'd ever even been a battle here, it was over. He crested the last rise and looked down the gentle slope at the open, empty field.

The ground had been demolished, churned and broken beyond recognition by feet and Earthbending, slick with blood in some places, scorched in others. Tarno slowed to a walk, catching his breath as he calmly took in the sight. His feet were on auto-pilot at the moment, trying to think of what his next step should be. He tried to recall a map of the area in his mind, think of where the nearest town would be, anywhere he could ask where the front was in the war. Somewhere he could do something useful.

At the bottom of the hill he noticed most of the weapons and bodies, the assorted detritus of war, had been cleared away. A team of five men with wheelbarrows was at the far end piling the last of the corpses up and taking them to where a funeral pyre burned, dumping anything that could be salvaged to the side. In front of him, half a dozen men of varying ages worked the soil, chopping with hoes or shifting with spades. A small area had been cleared as they worked their arduous way across.

An old man, drinking from a jug of water, saw Tarno walk up. His calculating eye searched for any insignia that would label him as friend or foe. When he found no outward sign, he simply held out the jug. "Drink, neighbor?"

Wordlessly, Tarno accepted, taking a few swigs before passing the jug back. "I missed the battle then?"

"Ended two days ago. The Fire Army broke and retreated after almost a week of combat. It look the last of the Earth reserves to do so. Now… the families of my farm work to get the field ready to be planted."

An entire week he could have helped, and he missed it by two days. Tarno stared out to the west, face blank, thinking of the lost opportunity to prove himself. After a moment his gaze dropped back to the man, considering his plight. "It's almost spring."

"Aye, that it is. The seeds we planted before the battle was pitched here are lost. If we can't get this field ready to receive seed by the first rains, we'll have lost the entire crop." He looked back at Tarno and forced a smile. "Don't listen to me belly-ache. Go on, you can catch up with the armies. You've still got time. Save us from the Fire Nation, lad."

Tarno smiled and nodded, and began jogging away. After five steps, he stopped, looking at the old men and young boys chopping at the soil. He stopped and called back. "What's your name, friend?"

"Hemi."

"Hemi… they couldn't spare an Earthbender? Just one could get this field fixed in a day or two."

"They didn't have a Bender to spare. They won, but only just. Besides, Bending for a farm is far different from battle. Most of those soldiers wouldn't know what to do." He opened his mouth to say something more, but then stopped himself and dropped his eyes.

Tarno let the silence stretch a moment, then said, "But you know someone who does know how to Bend a field for planting."

Hemi smiled with pride. "My boy. An Earthbender, like his mother, rest her soul. Neither was the best Bender in the world, but they knew how to keep a farm going. It was her family that owned this farm, they who kept it going through feast and famine." His eyes met Tarno's smiling, impassive face, and the silence drew more out of him. "Taken by the Earth Army, he was. Drafted to fight. Before he could take a wife, pass on his gift to another generation. Haven't even heard from him in years." Hemi shivered, then grabbed his shovel back up and headed for the line of men digging again.

Tarno watched as he started work. The group, untried youth next to stooped shoulders, he muttered under his breath, "If I was the Avatar, I could fix this field in an hour, tops."

He hadn't meant to be heard, but realized as Hemi laughed that he had been. "Neighbor, there are problems in this world that can't be solved by all the Bending in the fables. Even the Avatar has to learn that. Now go. Go fight the war. Perhaps you'll save the life of my son."

Tarno nodded, and walked back to the pile of tools. Dropping his pack beside them, he grabbed a hoe and joined the line working across the field. As Hemi glanced at him, eyes wide in surprise, he grunted. "Perhaps I'll spend a day making sure your son has a farm to come home to."

Hemi laughed once more, and that was the last word spoken as they worked until the sun chased the running armies to the western horizon.

The Fire soldier walked through the broken western gate, gazing through his mask at the destruction inside. Water collected in puddles, scorch marks traced jagged lines along walls, all in all it looked like battle. There were few civilians to be seen. He walked up to a small group of Firebenders standing in the shade of a wall for a moment.

He gave a quick salute and immediately cut through formalities. "There's a General out there who wants to know what the hell happened here."

So stern was his voice the Benders found themselves snapping to attention without realizing it, before they even saw the markings of a lieutenant on his uniform. "Fl… Flawed Avatar, sir. There's one loose, and he attacked."

"A Flawed One? What makes you so sure, private?"

"He could bend Air and Water, sir. From reports we know he wasn't the real Avatar, and some of the boys swear they got a look at his eyes. One blue, one gray, they said, sir."

"Well? Where is he being held? Or were you forced to kill him?"

The spokesman turned desperately to his friends, who both acted like they had never seen him before in their lives. "Er… well, sir… in point of fact, neither. He… he technically escaped, sir." The cold, impassive mask before him didn't twitch, didn't move. After long seconds he felt compelled to add to his report. "Sir, you wouldn't have believed what he could do. He had this ball of air he'd ride on, up walls and around the troops. Faster than a Rhino could gallop, sir. And sir, you know how hard it is to break through a shield of water with fireblasts. None of us have ever fought an Airbender before, sir. We never thought we'd have to, we don't know how to deal with their tactics. But we did learn, sir, and we won't get caught the same way twice."

"Do we have any idea what he was after?"

"I don't get told such things, sir. But … well, he's Flawed. Who knows why those psycho freaks do anything? He just wanted to pick a fight, is all."

The officer looked up and down the empty streets. "Town looks pretty deserted."

The private slouched in dismay. "Well… in the fight, most of the townsfolk got free. We were all being given conflicting orders, sent from one part of the town to the other trying to set traps, chase him down. Sentries got pulled off duty. In the confusion… most of the city escaped, sir. After we drove out the Flawed One, a squad was sent out. They brought back a few dozen. The rest… have gotten away."

Even through the mask, the lieutenant's silence had a disgusted air. The soldier he was interviewing found himself dropping his gaze in shame. Finally, when it was obvious nothing more was forthcoming, he spoke. "Very well. The General will not like this news. I'd get that uniform polished until it shines, if I were you. I think you'll be needing it." Turning, he stalked back out the gate and down the road.

The guards stood stiffly at attention until he was well down the road, past the bend and out of sight. Only then did they start breathing normally and sharing frightened looks. They each stood, silent in inner calculation, trying to decide how best to get out of trouble, for over a minute before one of them voiced hesitantly, "Say… which General did he say he was with, again?"

Past the bend, the lieutenant ducked into the woods. He stripped out of his armor, dropping it on top of the unconscious form he had 'borrowed' it from. Peeling off the fake lieutenant's pips, he dropped them in his backpack, wrapped in the shawl of his 'little old lady' disguise. He'd checked all the gates of the city, but hadn't learned much new in this last one. Keeping to the woods, parallel to the main road, he headed north and east in the direction the Flawed Avatar was seen to go.