A long time ago, the Avatar disappeared without a trace, and with the absence of any successor, the world was gradually thrown into chaos. Governments became unbalanced, spiritual and natural disasters spread, and war sprang everywhere.

In the face of this unprecedented crisis, Fire Lord Kuni declared that he would assemble a party to search for this Avatar, but many nations feared this as a prelude to more aggressive actions, and moved to subdue this threat. Amidst the chaos, two young women managed to escape, and embarked on a long journey that would hopefully lead them to the new Avatar, the only one who could restore order to the world…

AVATAR

The Celestial Sailors

BOOK ONE: CHAOS

2: Wu Song and Beyond

"Priestess. Priestess, wake up. Priestess!"

Rei felt herself shaken rather rudely, and took a moment to clear all the fuzz from her head. As soon as she sat up, the helmsman of their dinghy nodded his head to the shoreline. They had made it safely across the sea and were within range of Wu Song, but…

"There's trouble ahead." Rei washed her face in seawater and leaned closer for a better look. Water tribe boats were patrolling the harbor, and there were a few Earth Kingdom ships there as well. She pursed her lips anxiously.

"That was quick. They've cut off our arrival."

"The next port is Yang Zhi, but that's two days away. We could make it, but we'd be half-starved by the time we got there, and there's no guarantee we'll be any safer."

"We couldn't dock anywhere else? Is there a…uh, secret cove, or maybe an atoll or small island…?"

"No, priestess, not in this area. At least nowhere we could get to without killing ourselves first."

"Head straight into port, then. I guess it's our only option." Rei closed her eyes, crossed her legs, and began to meditate; there was nothing else she could do. Capture was almost a certainty…but they just might be lucky. There was no telling how they would be received once they docked—in fact, these people might not even be connected with the ones that had attacked them the other day. Commerce and travel between the four nations was common, even in those turbulent times, so maybe the two navies were peaceful.

Yeah, and maybe Rei was a flying bison.

She broke briefly out of her trance as she heard Suo stirring Usagi. The other girl was much slower to rise but just as quick to realize the danger. She fretted for awhile before going straight for the rations box, eating far more than her fair share. Rei wanted to chastise her, but thought better of it: there was no telling when they'd have another meal.

"Usagi," she called suddenly, "could I have some of that, please?" Usagi hadn't even noticed Rei; her face was covered with bits of rice that had somehow survived her voracious appetite. She sorted through the leftovers and gave Rei a cabbage roll, a loaf of bread, and a handful of dates.

"Sorry… I tend to eat a lot whenever I'm stressed out."

"I can't blame you," Rei said, eating her meal with considerably more dignity. The rations were completely gone once the dinghy made it to the pier; they were welcomed by a dockhand who offered them the usual fees. Suo had no money, so he was forced to sell the dinghy, which was no great loss. The trio nervously made their way through the docks, but nobody stopped them or even paid them much mind, except for one of the Earth Kingdom sailors.

"Whew, quite the ladies' man! You, sir, are a fortunate specimen!"

"Oh, thank you, but not usually," Suo said, flustered at being singled out. He played along flawlessly, though. "I'm just ferrying these girls here, nothing more."

"Hey, don't be so humble! Maybe you ought to…I dunno, make the most of things. I sure would if I were you!" The two men laughed until they were both lost in the crowd; Suo recovered quickly, not masking his disgust.

"Lech! But at least we got out of there without incident. Well, ladies, if nobody's going to arrest us, I suggest we find a place to stay for the evening. I'm afraid we won't be doing any more sailing for awhile. For the time being, let's stick together, and maybe we'll hear news about what happened yesterday."

Wu Song was one of the smaller port towns in the Fire Nation, but an outsider would never know that. The streets were positively clogged with people, and it was impossible to tell if they were shopping, selling, picking pockets, sightseeing, in a hurry, taking their time, going anywhere, or even if they had a sense of direction at all. There were very few streets—most of the city just had packed dirt, or gravel, or flattened stones laid down by masons of prior generations. It was also difficult to tell which of the structures were houses, as they all had uniform stone construction and tiled roofs, and few of them rose more than two stories above the ground. There was a high wall surrounding most of the city, as it had been a key position in wars long ago, and plenty of the Fire Lord's soldiers were there to keep it secure. Rei feared that one might recognize her and tried walking discreetly. Nobody else bothered them, though, since the city was too crowded—and in any case, there was an inn close by. They secured lodgings and even some food without trouble, and spent the remainder of their day planning the next move.

So far, Wu Song had been good to them, but its tentative safety would not last. Rei figured they'd have at least one more day before their enemies overtook them, or some bounty hunter came to claim them. Why they should be pursued at all was a mystery best left for another time: the fact was that the Fire Nation had suffered an attack from the other three nations, or at least factions from the other members, and they had been keen on preventing anybody from escaping this attack. People had obviously gotten away, and their enemies would not likely leave them to their freedom. Given that Rei was also related to the royal family, and…

"Wait, what?!" Usagi blurted, actually spitting out part of her drink. It splattered all over Rei, causing her to shriek and curse. It took all her hard years of priestess training and experience to restrain herself…even though Usagi had completely ruined her only outfit. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she wailed helplessly, "you just shocked me, is all. I had no idea you were royalty!"

"I'm more priestess than princess," she murmured. "My father and the Fire Lord are cousins. Even so, I'm a serious target for kidnappers. That alone is incentive for our enemies to find us."

"Whatever the case, we can't stay here too long," Suo stated. He gazed solemnly at Usagi. "Miss, I hate to impose, but would you have any relations or trusted friends that we might trouble for protection? At least until things settle down a little."

"Normally we wouldn't ask a civilian for that kind of assistance," Rei murmured humbly, "but under the circumstances, we have no choice. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay, I understand," Usagi replied softly. She winced as she answered, "I'm afraid to say I don't know very much about my family tree. My father's a news reporter and wartime correspondent, and we always move with the stories. I guess you could call us drifters. I asked him about it one time, and he says that we have family everywhere, but I guess that doesn't help. I've got a few close friends in Omashu, and I think maybe a distant relative on my mother's side…" She grinned sheepishly. Actually, though, it wasn't a bad suggestion.

Omashu's king condemned the recent aggressive policies that Ba Sing Se and other nations were performing, and he had tried to maintain good relations with the Fire Nation throughout the conflicts. He was politically neutral, neither helping nor hindering, choosing stability and diplomacy above all. This still gave him plenty of enemies, but on the whole, they could certainly do worse. Still…

"Omashu's a very long way from here," Suo said. "Even if we had a boat, a good one, it would take weeks to get there. By then, the conflicts might very well find their way into its walls, and we'd be worse off than before."

"We could go to the nearest Air Nomad temple," Rei suggested. She saw Suo's disbelief and already had her defenses ready. "I know they attacked the arena, but all the nations did. We're going to face the same troubles no matter where we go. Air Nomads have statistically been the most benign, and besides, we're closer to one of their temples than we are to Omashu."

"I did notice there weren't many of their people at the arena," Usagi noted. "It was almost exclusively Water and Earth. I say that if it's closer, we should give it a try." The other two contemplated this matter in silence for a long time. It made the most logical sense: they couldn't hide forever; they'd need fast, reliable transportation; air-benders were generally a peaceful race; there was a temple not too far off that they could access with little trouble; and even if things turned sour, surely there would be one sympathetic soul there. Usagi said she had family everywhere, but more importantly, she was a drifter. Who better to act as arbiter for the Air Nomads than another nomad?

"Then I suppose it's settled," Suo said. "We secure transportation and supplies today, and leave as quietly as possible in the morning. For now, we should rest." He stood up and bowed; Rei rose and took hold of his arm.

"I'm sorry, we've been in such a rush lately that I haven't had a chance to thank you."

"That's all right, priestess. It's my duty and honor to serve the royal family." Rei smiled.

"Just call me 'Rei' for now. Wouldn't want to draw any attention."

"Speaking of drawing attention…" He stared down at her ruined clothes, causing her to turn red. She glared at Usagi before excusing herself to the laundry room.

Rei stared enviously at Usagi. In spite of everything they had went through, she was fast asleep, sprawled out on her bed in a position that would baffle a yoga master. Rei, for her part, was bone-weary, but it was a weariness that offered no rest. Horrible anxiety kept her awake. She had triple-checked their supplies, gone over the routes they could take, secured their rooms, spoken with Suo until he nodded off... Now she had the window open, just staring at the sky, trying to pick out constellations.

"Nhh, don't do that, Shingo, it's got mustard on it." Usagi was grumbling in her sleep. Rei cast a quick gaze at her, smiled, and went back to her amateur astronomy as Usagi kept murmuring. "What, the mustard's dancing? Hmm, and there's a spider-duck, too. He wants to...ahh...wear the cap..."

Rei tensed a little as several people wearing Earth Kingdom honor guard attire came into view and walked by their hotel. One even looked up at her and waved, but their movements suggested no belligerence, or even vigilance (they must've been off-duty; four were drunk). She let out a sigh as they passed from view. A few other people were wandering the streets, but otherwise the night was calm. Maybe...just maybe...word of the incident hadn't reached this port. She went inside and closed the window, extinguished all the lights, and resolved to at least lay down, even if she couldn't sleep.

Unfamiliar bumping and bustling broke whatever rest she might have gained. Rei froze where she was, hoping it was just noisy neighbors. It was deathly calm and quiet, so any sound was amplified. She picked up very faint whispers, and the unmistakable shuffling of people trying to sneak around. What the...? Fearing the worst, she rose softly from her bed and felt her way around, not daring to use a light. Usagi was still sound asleep next to her, snoring and babbling; gently waking her would be out of the question. Rei shook her as forcefully as possible, when she heard a sound that paralyzed her:

Their front door was opening.

"Usagi," she hissed, "Usagi! Get up! I think we're in trouble."

"Nhh make it double..."

"Usagi!" Muted sounds of a struggle came from the room where Suo was staying. She heard a muffled voice...and then, nothing. Time for desperate measures. "Sorry about this!" A hard slap to the face brought Usagi out of her stupor; she wailed in pain. At that exact instant, the door to their room burst open, revealing four Earth Kingdom guards, all of them armed. Usagi screamed even louder, and Rei chose that infinitesimal moment of distraction to hurl a fireball at the intruders. She then scooped Usagi into her arms, and headed for their only means of escape: the window she had just closed. They broke through and tumbled onto the tiled awning, rolling senselessly. Rei barely managed to cling to the edge, while Usagi bounced helplessly away. She reached an arm out and saved her at the last second, but her grip loosened, and so did the tile. Their fall was brutish, but survivable. They were both forced to attend to their bruises for a moment while the guards doubled back.

"Rei, what in—"

"They're after us, Usagi! Hurry!" She stood—a painful error on her part—collapsed, grit her teeth, and offered a hand to her companion. Usagi gingerly climbed to her feet, but they only managed to take a few steps before the guards caught up to them.

"Hey, they're wanted fugitives! Three gold pieces for anyone who captures them!"

"Fantastic," Rei snarled. An alarm was sounded, and tears of pain rolled down her face as she attempted to run. She and Suo had had the good sense to hire a pack animal, and it was still waiting for them outside. Rei scrambled to the kangacamel but Usagi stopped her.

"No, not that, it's too slow! This one!" Rei's jaw loosened as she stared incredulously. Usagi was heading towards an unattended donkeydillo, of all things.

"A donkeydillo?! Usagi, are you out of your mind?!"

"Just trust me, I know how to ride these! Get on!" Rei pursed her lips as she stared back. The Earth kingdom guards were nearly upon them, and they were already carving huge chunks of stone from below. Cursing, Rei leaped onto the dopey creature's back...

"I hope you know what you're doowwWWAAAAH!" And shrieked as the creature curled into a ball and rolled away faster than anything she could imagine. The port town streaked around them relentlessly, turning everything into a blur; Rei could barely hear herself screaming for Usagi to stop, slow down, she was going to die!

"Ha!" the other girl cackled. "Just wait until we get outside the town! Then I'll show you what these babies are really made of!"

"NO THANK YOU! I GET THE PICTURE ALREADY!" As Usagi glanced back to grin at her, she noticed something coming up from behind, and when Rei turned around, she noticed it, too. The four royal guards were following them, running backwards atop an enormous boulder—two bending it through the streets while a third steered. The last picked up stones from the ground and was hurling them at the girls.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Rei shrieked. She barked for Usagi to keep a steady course as she twisted around and gave a fiery retort, but her aim was hopeless. The road was uneven, and Usagi was starting to jerk around turns. Rei's shots went wild, if she was lucky, or else hit something she didn't mean to, if she wasn't. A rather large chunk of stone narrowly missed crushing them, but its impact sent pebbles flying right in their faces. Usagi swerved clumsily and smashed through a vegetable stand, causing even more debris to spray. Rei spat out one of the surviving plants.

"My radishes!"

"Sorry! Whoa!" She barely had time to duck under another stone, but it hit Usagi instead, and she careened out of control. Rei offered one more fireball before tending to her companion. As the donkeydillo went wild, her fireball sliced through the large boulder the royal guards were running on, cleaving it in two. That didn't deter them in the least; now they could split up. They signaled each other and did just that, two taking a left turn on their half while the others continued the pursuit.

"Just one thing after another," Rei snarled. Usagi regained her senses but the blow to her head had disoriented her too much. They had now slowed considerably, and were steering clumsily. Rei tried to gain control of the rolling beast, but it was hurling them into a large structure, and their pursuers were closing in. Rei desperately tried to veer the donkeydillo away from the building, but this was a fate they could not escape. She winced as they were thrown directly into the imposing wall...

And felt her stomach churn as the beast rolled straight up the building. It took a moment for Rei to realize they were now going vertically, quite safe from crashing—and the danger below, no less.

"Okay," she gasped, "that's new." The donkeydillo continued rolling until it reached the slanted roof, where it came to a brief halt at the apex. The rooftops of Wu Song were relatively peaceful, so they took a moment to recover and get their bearings. Usagi still couldn't think clearly thanks to her injury, so she had no idea where the air temple was. Wu Song was bordered by the ocean and some mountains, but there was one very clear path, and Rei could see it far off to their left. Usagi shook her head and turned the donkeydillo around, but a noise paused her. Glancing down, she saw that two of the royal guards had abandoned their ride and were now scaling the building, bending out footholds to climb on.

"Wow, they really want to capture us."

"What was your first clue?" Rei snapped. Usagi looked offended but there was no time to apologize. They started to roll down the slanted roof, gaining enough momentum to leap over the side onto a smaller building. Just then the royal guard surged from below, discovered them, and resumed their pursuit.

"That's the one thing about donkeydillos," Usagi grumbled as she looked for another landing spot: "They can't jump to save their lives...or ours." Favoring speed over maneuverability, Usagi guided the beast to smaller and smaller buildings, hopping off one after the other until they could go no further and came back to the surface. They were almost clear of the town, but before they could make a break for it, the other two royal guards burst in on them, hurling stones furiously. Both girls were knocked from their ride, and could not recover before the guards were upon them. Rei hurled a weak spread of fire in their faces and jumped back onto the beast, grabbing Usagi by her wrist and pulling her along.

"Sorry about this!" she exclaimed, igniting the donkeydillo's tail. The intense heat produced the desired effect, and the beast shot away with even greater speed than before. A patrol of water-benders was guarding the gate out of the city, but they stood no chance against a berserk donkeydillo and a fire-bending priestess. Whoever didn't jump out of the way was bowled over like ninepins.

"Strike!" Usagi whooped. She and Rei grinned at each other and even laughed, but their victory would have to be cut short. The donkeydillo was still on fire, and there was only one way—one place—it could fix that. Their screams were summarily cut off as all three dove headfirst into the closest river.

…...

Usagi and Rei stood quietly above the fire, warming themselves and their clothes. It was now nearly dawn, and they were exhausted. The cold morning air, mixed with the equally-cold water, kept them awake, but the fire was all they had to look forward to now. Their mad dash out of Wu Song had robbed them of nearly all their supplies, including their food and any change of clothes. Still, their pursuers were no longer on their trail, and they had a transport, of sorts (it at least had plenty of grass and water to compensate for a singed tail). The fire died down a little, so Rei added to it, causing Usagi to step back.

"Sorry," she said quietly. Usagi meekly shook her head. The priestess took a slow breath. "What a night, huh?"

"Tell me about it. Oh, um...I think I already know the answer, but...what happened to Suo?"

Rei only needed to shake her head. Usagi cast her face aside.

"I'll see if I can't find us something to eat, but we'll have to leave at first light. Do you know where we are?" Usagi gazed up at the stars. The moon was waning into a white sickle, and would soon disappear for a few nights. Years spent traveling around the world with her itinerant father had imprinted impeccable navigation skills into the young lady, including astronomy.

"There's the Winged Tiger. Also the Eagle in the Clouds, and...just a bit of the Iron Whistle. We must be in the central northern territories of the Fire Nation, somewhere southwest of Boiling Rock. So that...is north." She pointed off into the distance, where the rivers and forest would eventually meet the ocean. Rei blinked.

"Is the air temple close by?"

"Yeah, but we'd need another boat to get there, though, unless we happened across a flying bison. Or a dragon."

"No other way around it?"

"We could hope a leviathan swims our way." Silence pressed upon them as the fruitlessness of their journey became manifest. Unless some freak miracle fell into their laps, the only way forward was back, into Wu Song, where water-benders and Earth Kingdom guardsmen were on full alert, with the promise of good money swaying any neutral townspeople against them.

"You don't bend?"

"Not in the least," Usagi answered with a sad smile. "I actually tried to when I was a kid."

"Don't be too upset over it," Rei said, thinking about her cousin Kotono. "You'd be surprised at the kinds of people that can't...or the number of people that wish they didn't."

"Does that include you?" she said softly. Rei smiled feebly.

"No, I'm proud of who I am and what I can do. It's just that...sometimes I wonder if I even have a will of my own. I mean, one that's not bent solely towards the aid and comfort of others. Not that that's undesirable..."

"Sounds complicated," Usagi replied, laughing softly. "I guess simplicity has its perks."

"You're telling me," Rei laughed in return. She felt warm enough now to dress—her clothes were still damp, but serviceable—and scouted around for food. Usagi stayed close to the fire a little longer before steeling herself for the day. As the inky blackness of the horizon gave way first to blue, then dusky pink, the wind picked up suddenly. What sounded like a guttural groan came drifting with the breeze.

"Ugh, now what?" she grumbled as she dressed herself. Ick: her clothes weren't nearly as dry as she had hoped. She had just put her shoes on when the wind picked up again, this time much stronger, almost blowing her away. The groaning came back again, intensified, and she went livid.

"I didn't mean that, okay? I take it back!" The wind slashed at her mercilessly, flattening her against the ground. As dark as it was, an even darker presence hovered ominously overhead, and Usagi cringed with fear as it took shape, and pursued her. "Go away, go away, go away, go away," she chanted, making a mad dash for...anywhere, she didn't care, it didn't matter. She found Rei, who was just as startled as her, but this time no defense could be mounted. The wind became a fierce gale, hurling them high into the air, and when their flight was ended, they came to a violent stop, and the looming blackness engulfed them completely.

The end of "Wu Song and Beyond"

Next time: "Thunderbird of the West"

Author's note:

In case anyone was wondering where Wu Song is, I'm putting it around the Great Gates of Azulon, on the northern side of the Fire Nation. This works out well, since the capitol borders south of it, and the western air temple is a few days north.