Chapter 3
"There you are!" Katara yelled, the first to spy Feng strolling out from among the trees, his hands in his pockets as he paid no attention to how the water was up to his shins. "We've been looking all over for you."
"Yeah, it's good to see you." Aang agreed, hands on his hips. "Although…this is going to sound strange, but did you see something as well? Something…strange?"
Feng startled slightly, rearing back with open eyes. "You…you guys saw something too?"
"Yeah, for me it was some girl in a fancy dress who ran away from me, along with some flying boar." Aang nodded, gesturing at Sokka next who swallowed slightly, his eyes glazing over.
"I…I saw Yue."
On seeing Feng's puzzled frown, he reluctantly elaborated.
"She's…she was the princess of the northern water tribe, before she…" Sokka trailed off as Feng nodded, understanding the meaning of his words. He wouldn't begrudge anyone for not wanting to speak about a topic of grief.
"I…I saw my mother." Katara admitted, the next to speak, frowning as she stared at Feng. "What did you see?"
Feng swallowed, his mouth feeling dry as he looked between the others, seeing their caring, unjudging eyes. Perhaps…perhaps it would be okay to trust them, at least a little.
"I saw…a figure of my past, but different. Older, more vicious, more…dangerous. I almost thought I would have to fight it before it disappeared, which I think is a good thing." Feng frowned. "It smashed through one of those roots with just one strike."
"Wait…your apparation was solid?!" Sokka yelled, eyes wide in surprise. "Then…it wasn't just a hallucination due to swamp gas and hunger?!"
"No, Sokka, I don't think it was." Feng admitted, rubbing his hands together with a slightly disturbed expression across his face. "For me…I think it might have been a warning about a possible future…a future that I know I want to part in."
"Future…" Aang muttered, rolling the word over in his mind. "Could what I saw be something about the future?"
The boy thought some more, his face looking thoughtful as he looked around the area, searching for something. What this was, Feng had no idea, nor did the other two judging by the puzzled expressions on their own faces.
"Ah…Aang? What are you doing?" Sokka asked, the first to break the silence.
"I'm looking for something." Aang replied, ducking under some of the roots, and jumping up into other tree's branches.
"I couldn't tell." Sokka drawled, earning a smack of the head from his sister and an exclamation of pain from himself.
"What my idiot brother was trying to say is, what are you looking for?"
"I don't know." The Avatar admitted, not stopping his search for a second. "I just know that the forest led us here for some reason, that it called me here, and I want to know why."
"You were called here?" A new voice suddenly asked, one that made the others turn swiftly to the sound of the voice, watching as a scruffy looking man dressed in little more than a leaf loincloth stepped out from behind the biggest tree in the area.
"Who are you?!" Sokka demanded, holding his machete out in defence of himself, suspicious of this new person.
"Names Huu, and I'm the guardian of this little swamp." The man grinned, feeling unthreatened as he put his hands on his hips.
"Guardian?" Aang asked, sounding confused.
"Yeah," Huu nodded, "I protect it from anyone who wants to hurt it, kind of like you're friend with the knife over there."
Up until this point, Sokka still hadn't put his machete down, so it took the combined glares of Aang, Katara and Feng to make him holster it.
"You see, this swamp is a mystical place, one with countless, unknown mysterious. Such mysteries makes it interesting to other people with less than pleasant intentions, but if the forest chose to call you then I know it must be important." Huu revealed, bending a vine out of his way as he began to lead the group in an unknown direction.
"Of course it's important, he's the Avatar!" Sokka exclaimed, throwing his hands up as Aang turned bashful under Huu's curious gaze.
"He is, is he?"
Aang held his breath, ready for some kind of reaction from the man.
"Neat. Anyway, as I was saying, this forest is a mysterious place, in fact it's where I reached enlightenment all those years ago after it to called me here."
Aang relaxed under the Huu's supposed disinterest, taking greater interest in his words.
"You were called here as well?"
"I was." Huu nodded, bending one final fine out of the way to lead the gang to the top of the base of the biggest tree they had ever seen, that any of the teens had seen.
"This right here, this is the heart of the swamp, the one thing that connects it all together. See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink, take root, and spread some more. One big, living organism. Just like the entire world."
He leant against the tree with his arms crossed, observing the four teens before him. Four teens that kept a slight but noticeable distance between them.
He may be enlightened, Feng thought, but its seems like said enlightenment didn't lend itself towards taking a bath.
"I get how this tree is big, but the whole world, really?" Aang asked, the disbelief clear on his face.
"Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together." Huu knocked on the tree behind him fondly. "You can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree."
Aang's face cleared up as he understood what Huu was saying. Meanwhile, Katara chose to ask her own question.
"But how do our visions play into this? What caused them?"
"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone." Sokka and Katara frowned at Huu's words. "But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion and so is death."
"So that means that our visions could have been from the future as well?" Aang asked, gesturing between himself and the Avatar.
"You're the Avatar," Huu replied, sounding amused, "you tell me."
"Time is an illusion," Aang muttered, "so it is someone I'll will meet."
Feng really hoped that he would not meet his own vision, as even now he was still off balance from the whole thing. If time is an illusion, it hopefully meant it could change. This was the only thing keeping Feng from freaking out.
"Correct." Huu grinned, sounding pleased, making Aang grin as well before he looked around the area.
"Now we just need to find the way back to Appa, as I think we may have gotten a little lost on our way here."
"Yeah, this old forest tends to do that, one of the many trick it likes to play." Huu chuckled, patting the bark beneath his fingers. "Hell, onetime it kept leading me in circles when I tried to find my way back here after leaving it."
"Gee, that's real helpful." Sokka muttered, glaring slighting at the forest around them.
"Mm, maybe not, but I believe your Avatar friend their may be up to something." Huu replied, pointing at Aang who had knelt down, placing his palm against the aged surface of the Banyan tree.
"Aang?" Katara asked, sounding worried, but Aang didn't reply. Instead, he sendt a burst of energy into the tree below him, observing distantly as the pulse grew larger and larger in its search, mapping more and more of the forest around the boy.
"Everything is connected." Aang breathed in amazement, opening his eyes once he felt the presence of his sky bison.
"Come on guys, I know the way." Aang said confidently, walking in a direction that Feng thought was opposite of where they needed to go. Shrugging, he followed behind Aang, content that if they were going the wrong way, he could always blame Aang for it.
"Here we go again." Sokka sighed, with Katara joining him this time. "What is it with airbenders and acting so casual about things?"
Unfortunately for Sokka, he would never hear the answer to that question, as Aang was too focused on navigating and Feng couldn't be bothered to answer.
A half hour later, they were already back in the air, poised on Appa's back with some fresh supplies from the Foggy Swamp member
~A Couple Days Later~
"Finally!" Sokka declared, spotting the first signs of the town of Goaling coming up in front of them. "As nice as it is to ride on Appa, I also like standing on real ground for once."
Privately, Feng agreed with Sokka, even if for a different reason.
"Ah, and you were getting so close on the funnel too." Aang muttered, looking at the pile of stones in his hands with disappointing. Seeing as they had been flying, Aang had been taking advantage of the time to begin Feng's lessons in the sacred art of airbending.
Now, don't get it wrong, Feng had been super excited to learn how to improve his airbending abilities, gleeful in fact, but doing so on Appa's back provided a multitude of issues. First of all…he kept falling off the bison's back!
Apparently, concentrating on bending forms that require a lot of movement does not leave a lot of room for staying stable on a flying platform, leading Feng to fall out at least once an hour. Hell, the 15 minutes they spent trying to get him started on the air pull/suction had made him fall out a total of 5 times before they called it quits while they were in the air, one they'd both declared not suitable for flying bison tutelage, just like the wind run.
So, while Feng had felt satisfied with the amount of progress he was making, the air flow and master airbender speeding up his progress over ten fold even the fasted he'd ever learned, he was more than ready for a bit of a break.
His aching Chi pathways agreed with him.
"Well, rest is also an important part of the learning process." Katara commented from the side, giving the tired looking Feng a glance over. "It helps you consolidate what you learned instead of forgetting it."
"And I have learned a lot." Feng said, playful off Aang's pride a little something that made Aang preened a bit, feeling satisfied with his teaching abilities.
"That's good, and I suppose a break would be warranted now. I have to say, it's been quite fun being your teacher, Feng. Compared to my old air nomad buddies, who I only showed tricks too, actually shaping the abilities of another airbender is satisfying in a way I never quite realised."
"I could have told you that." Katara said in amusement, closing her scroll and putting it away as Aang blushed a little, rubbing the back of his head. Katara had been Aang's teacher since they left the Northern Water Tribe, and while they hadn't done much yet in Feng's presence, even he could tell that they both enjoyed their waterbending sessions.
"Right, well, time to pack up guys, I'm taking Appa in for a landing. Katara, grab you bag. Aang, grab your hat. Feng…" Sokka trailed off as he looked at Feng with a frown, "straighten your cloak?"
Yeah, even Sokka could tell he was reaching a bit at that statement, but Feng's coat did have a few folds out of place due to the flapping it had done in the wind. Either way, they all obeyed as Sokka directed Appa to land them gently, the only one able to do so aside from Aang as neither Katara nor Feng had shown any interest in it.
…
"It's pricey…but I really do like it." Sokka frowned, staring at the green, earth kingdom bag in his hands, the group having taken the opportunity to do a little shopping now that they had come across a proper market.
Katara and Momo were similarly looking at the bag, weighing up its usefulness against the price while Aang looked in another direction, a conical hat hiding his identity as Feng stood beside him.
"Then you should get it, you deserve something nice." Katara replied, both sounding and looking a little bored.
"I do, don't I? But it's too expensive. I shouldn't."
"Alright then, don't." Katara finally said before walking off, in search of literally anything else. Aang was quick to follow, still a lovesick puppy and not doing anything else as Sokka continued to question his decision.
Feng, well to be frank Feng thought the bag was both overpriced and too flashy. It was bright green colour with gold accent's, but if you looked closer, you'd be able to see that the seams were a little weak and would likely unravel with only moderate usage.
It did look nice though Feng admitted, picking at his plain, dark-coloured shirt.
"There isn't much point in trying to blend in anymore, is there? Not if I'm travelling with Aang, the Avatar." Feng mused, rubbing the dull green shirt between his fingers, feeling it's roughness. Similarly, his fans were just a dull brown while his coat was a slightly darker shade of brown.
No, it was about time to make some changes to his wardrobe Feng though with a smile, looking around the market to see if anything looked good. Not the main street though, those would all be overpriced, even if some of it was likely of good quality.
A brief search through a few side streets showed a few promising options with reasonable prices, and Feng found that he actually did have enough money for two sets of clothes, buuuutttttt…he was in a well off town, with people who had a much greater wealth than the average, and he always wanted to keep at least some money on his personage in case of emergency.
It would be a shame if some of those wealthy people just so happened to…misplace some money on their way through the markets, but you know what they say…their loss is his gain.
"Now, who would be a good target?" Feng muttered, scanning the crowds intently, taking note as he otherwise ignored how Aang, Katara and Sokka were talking to some guy with flyers. First, Feng eliminated all of the people who wore either poor or otherwise mediocre clothing.
He wouldn't steal from someone who might depend on such money for their needs after all. Next, Feng scanned the people wearing nice clothes, the merchants, minor nobles and other wealth granting professions, seeing three that looked acceptable straight away.
First up was an older, middle-aged man of considerable girth, the folds of his fat flapping as he walked through the crowded streets, donned in luxurious looking white clothing that followed around him in a way that just screamed wealth. The fact that he was both by himself and that he didn't pay any attention to the dust stains he was getting on his clothes were also good indicators, as it meant that he more than just that one pair, and that he was not paranoid enough to bring guards.
Second was an elderly lady, her hair almost fully white, who possessed a loose fitting navy blue dress with intricate decoration, a purple shawl wrapped around her shoulders as she went on her way. On her face was a haughty expression as she turned her nose up at the common ravel passing by her.
She also had a guard, which normally would have made Feng disqualify her as a target, but it was only one distracted male guard that looked like he had better things to do, and her expression just screamed at Feng to nock her down a peg.
Finally, there was an official wearing dark black robes walking carefully with a pile of scrolls. Sure, he looked well fed, but Feng suspected that he did not have much money on his person just by looking at him. What he did have was information, a metaphorical treasure trove held within his palms.
"Decisions, decisions." Feng muttered, tapping a finger against his thigh as he stared at his three targets out of the corner of his eyes, mulling over the decision. The first to be eliminated was the official since Feng didn't really see the need to get more information right now, not while he travelled with Aang.
That left deciding between the middle-aged man and the old lady, and it was an action by the man that made the decision for him. As he passed by a pair of younger children, both of them dressed in rough and worn looking clothing, he carelessly fished a hand into his pocket, chucking 10 silver coins at them as he chuckled.
"Thanks' mister!" The younger looking child said, clasping the coins between his fingers, amazed at the generosity of the unknown man.
"Don't worry about it." He chuckled, continuing on his way.
No, Feng wouldn't steal from that man. He was clearly a generous soul, one that gave back to those with less than him. Feng wouldn't risk changing that with his actions.
That just left the arrogant lady, who Feng had honestly been hoping to select.
"Right, now I have a target. What about a method?" Feng mused, carefully trailing behind the lady and her guard, pretending to observe the goods on display.
He definitely didn't want to cause a commotion, not while he couldn't leave if he needed to in a hurry. He also couldn't follow her back to her home, not if he wanted to get back to Aang and the others in a short period of time.
That didn't exactly leave him many options, as even if he could evade the notice of the woman, he would still likely be noticed by the guard, despite the fact that the man didn't seem particularly zealous in his efforts.
But…what if he didn't try to prevent a commotion? What if instead he pulled on one of the tenants of airbending and misdirected the attention with a disguise of some sort. Carefully, Feng slipped a hand into the bottom of his pack, feeling around the hidden pocket for its contents.
"It's not like he could get any more infamous now, could he?" Feng smirked, putting the final details of his plan together.
…
Silently, a black garbed figure stalked behind his target, his steps light as he travelled over the rooftops, waiting for the opportune moment.
"You call this fine pottery?!" The outraged lady yelled at the poor attendant, gesturing wildly at the display of crockery in front of the stall. "Why, even my blind platypus bear could do better than this at a 10th of the cost!"
"B-Be that as it may, Lade Vessi, that is the p-price the store owner set. It is not up to m-me to decide something like that, I can only sell it for the price given." The worked said nervously, cringing at the thought of alienating the woman.
She was the third richest resident in Gaoling after all.
Still, while the workers words had been reasonable, the old lady was working herself up into an angry state, ready to continue her argument.
"My lady." The guard said with sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he failed to get her attention. "My lady!"
"What?!" Lade Vessi said, breaking off her glare at the attendant to instead glare at the guard.
The guard was unimpressed the hidden figure noticed, meeting the glare without hesitation.
"We've been over this my lady, just because the price is too expensive for your tastes does not give you the right to abuse the workers."
"And why not?" Lady Vessi declared, tilting her head back in disdain. "My family helped to build this town, why shouldn't I be aloud to make my opinion known? The mere fact that something interests me should be more than worth a discount, no matter how much money I brought." She said, holding out a bulging money purse.
"Because then the town's mayor will be annoyed, and we've already had to apologize twice this month. If you keep it up, I'm afraid their may be harsher consequences soon."
For the first time, something other than pride and anger appeared on the ladies face, an unsure expression replacing it. Hesitantly, she nodded, seeing some sense in her guards words.
Unfortunately for her though, someone else had taken advantage of her distracted state to snatch the purse still in her outstretched hand, a figure dressed in mostly black clothing.
"Thanks Darling." The dark figure growled, wrenching it out of her iron like grip with a graceful tug and spinning out of the way of the guards reaching arms, sprinting towards the narrower streets as he did.
"Thief!" Lady Vessi yelled, pointing her figure towards the fleeing figure and her guard sprinted after him, moving in an unsteady gate due to the weight of his armour, both of them forgetting about the now relieved store attendant.
"Get back here!" The guard yelled, his breaths already starting to heave.
"I'm curious, has that ever worked?" The figure asked with amusement, tilting his head back to reveal a plain red mask as he ran away from the guard, his voice sounding semi-ethereal with no trace of struggle.
"S-shut up!"
"Hahaha." The figure laughed, ducking and weaving through the cramped buildings, moving between the startled looking people with contemptable ease as the guard tried to follow, far less successful that his target.
"Hey!"
"Watch it!"
"What's going on?!"
"Is that who I think it is?!"
Regardless of how many people yelled out their complaints though, neither the guard nor the figure slowed down, travelling through the winding pathways of the town, the lithe thief pulling further and further away as the time passed.
"Thanks' for the gold!" the figure yelled to the guard just before moving out of sight, duking around a corner and out of view of the guard or other people.
"Where…are…you?!" The guard panted, turning around the corner to the sight of literally no one, his target nowhere in sight. The guards eye's darted around as he desperately sought to catch even a single glance of the thief.
After a minute however, the guard slumped as he threw in the towel, groaning as he collapsed against the wall, his hands on his knees.
"Lady Vessi is never going to let this go, I can feel it."
…
Feng cheerfully whistled as he tossed his new coin pouch up and down, strolling across the rooftops as he moved back to where he'd stashed his clothes.
"153 Gold, 10 Silver and 5 Copper. Not a bad haul." Feng grinned, pleased with himself. In fact, it was actually the third largest haul he'd ever gotten from a single target, not that much of it still remained. He normally spent it soon after he got it.
"Now, let's go get me some new clothes."
…
"Eh, he's not the one." Aang sighed as he walked out of the courtyard, beating his ear to make some sand fall out as he walked towards the water tribe siblings.
"I could have told you that." Feng's voice suddenly cut in, startled thing trio as they whirled around to catch sight of their friend.
"Feng! We thought we'd lost you for a second." Sokka cheered, hefting his shiny new back. "Katara wanted to go looking for you, but I convinced her to wait, that you'd find your way back to us. I even bet cooking duty on it, so thanks for proving me right."
"Yeah," Katara grumbled, "thanks for that. Still, why did you disappear there? I just thought you were following behind us."
"Can't you tell?" Feng grinned, flicking his chin down at his crossed arms.
"You got new clothes!" Aang cheered, the first to notice as he bounded towards his fellow airbender to get a better look.
"That I did, Aang." Feng agreed, pushing away from the wall and brushing off some of the dust that had gotten onto him. Instead of his old outfit of green and brown, he now wore a combination of black and green that presented quit the figure.
To start with, his pants were now a black version of the pants Aang wore with green highlights sewn in, a better style for airbending, along with a tight black shirt with similar green decoration that covered everything down to his wrists, a full body shirt. Now, this would have been a boring outfit if it was just that, but Feng had also updated the old cloak he was wearing, getting a dull green cloak that actually suited his height, billowing around his lean frame far better than his old one had, and with a better quality to.
He'd even managed to get the seamstress to sew in the modifications he'd made for his last cloak, the professional doing a far better job of it than he ever had.
"Still, what's this about being able to tell us about Master Yu?" Katara said curiously.
"Exactly that. Did I not inform you I've been to this place before? Granted, it was some time ago, but I actually spent a month here almost two years ago, which around the time Yu was setting up his little earth bending academy."
A stupefied expression appeared on Katara's face.
"You've been here before?"
"Mm-hmm," Feng nodded ", which is why I would have been able to tell you that Yu is just a semi-talented hack. All of the earth benders who live here are."
"Oh." Aang sighed, slumping slighting at Feng's words. While Katara and Sokka's reactions were more subtle, they too looked disappointed.
"Hey, now, I didn't say that you wouldn't be able to find someone, as aside from Yu's little school, there is one other place you may be able to find a teacher, Aang. A little something called Earth Rumble."
"Earth Rumble?" Sokka asked, sounding confused yet intrigued. "What's that?"
"That, my dear young friend," Feng began holding out an open hand, "is a place where a variety of earth benders gather to compete and fight against one another, drawn in from the surrounding area for the cash prize. While no one had showed up who was skilled enough the time I came here to teach Aang, that was Earth Rumble 2. It should be up to Earth Rumble 6 by now, and it would have had a little more time to spread. If anyone is worthy of teacher Aang from this town, the champion will likely be it."
"Do you really think I could find a teacher there?" Aang asked, hope shining in his eyes.
"I do." Feng nodded, clenching his fist in slight guilt. "And if we can't…the entertainment alone will be worth of the entry fee. I very much enjoyed it when I attended and can only imagine it will be even more so now."
"Entertainment?!" Sokka yelled, moving to throw an arm around Feng's shoulder. "Sold! Let's go watch people throw rocks at each other."
Feng grinned, shaking his head in amusement as he turned to the last member of the group, the only one who could stop them from attending the fights.
Katara.
"Well…" Katara looked unsure, "…I'm not confident about this, but I haven't seen anyone else around who would be suitable, so unless we want to fly to anther town, this will be our best chance."
"It will." Feng confirmed with a smile, trying to help her solidify her decision, which earned a smile and a nod back from Katara.
The only one knowing where he was going, Feng was the one to lead the gang towards the underground arena that housed Earth Rumble, which is probably why he missed the slight frown Aang gave at Katara and Feng's interaction.
…
As one, the gang emerged from the stone doorway to gaze out on the area below, a large number of stone steps surrounding the recessed fighting area in the centre. Strangely enough however, none of the seats below about the halfway point were taken, as in they were complete empty.
"Hey, front row seats! I wonder why no one else is sitting here." Aang said cheerfully, planting his but right down in the third-row seat, Sokka and Katara joining him.
"You'll see." Feng warned his confused companions, crossing his arms as he remained standing, poised to move when it was required of him. This was a good thing, as he was standing directly in the path of an enormous stone boulder that smashed into his previous position, breaking apart as he leaped to the side, flipping himself sideways over his startled companions heads and landed smoothly beside
"So, any more questions?" Feng drawled calmly, placing a hand on his hip as he cocked an eyebrow at his companions.
"No, no, I'm good." Aang replied, waving is hands frantically as he looked back towards the arena, searching for any other flying threats. None of them moved however, which could probably be counted as a stupid decision on the teens part, but all of them wanted a good view, even Katara.
Besides, Feng was already confident he would be able to evade any stray rocks that came his way, something he had already displayed.
In the centre of the ring, the imposing figure of the nights host appeared, lifting out of the earth as he raised his left arm, a rumble filling the area as the earthen platform that made up the fighting floor was elevated to be eye level with the lower spectators.
"Welcome to Erath Rumble 6! I am your host, Xin Fu!" Xin Fu yelled, throwing his arms out in welcome and showmanship.
Katara sighed as she looked away. "This is just going to be a bunch of guys throwing rocks at each other, isn't it?"
"That's what I paid for." Sokka cheered, grinning happily.
"Me too." Feng admitted as a smile crossed his face, not even sorry for the slight manipulation on his part. It had been true that they could have found a teacher for Aang, but the quality of the Earth benders that would show up to something like this, well…they left something to be desired.
But man were they entertaining.
"The rules are simple. Just knock the other guy out of the ring, and you win!" Xin Fu declared, leaping up onto a podium that stood above the ring, a bell ringing from a position out of view. "Round one: The Boulder vs. The Big Bad Hippo!"
On hearing their names, the Boulder and Hippo leaped onto the podium, The Boulder lifting his muscled arms to the cheering of the audience while the rotund Hippo roared.
"Listen up, Hippo. You may be big, but you ain't bad" The Boulder grinned insanely as he pointed at his oponent. "The Boulder's gonna win this in a landslide!"
Yep, Feng didn't think they'd get a teacher out of this, but as he leant against the seat behind him, still standing, he grinned to himself as he watched the ensuing show. It would be entertaining.