Wandering Firebender
Fourty Six: Alliances
The words of Master Rala were still hanging heavily in Elio's mind as he rode down the trail on his eel-hound. All of the responsibility being entrusted onto him was daunting to say the least, but he knew that there was no way he was going to let the invasion happen without warning.
He owed that to Cindra.
"You know what? I think you need a name," Elio rambled to his eel-hound, looking to get his mind focused on a lighter subject. "What do you think?" He asked it.
The eel-hound exhaled gruffly, continuing forward without an opinion to offer.
"That's fair...hm...I'mma call you Sai." He decided with a faint smile, pleased with that choice.
Elio glanced ahead again and pulled Sai's reins, urging him to slow down. Up ahead, he saw that the trail he was traveling on passed through a small territory occupied by the Fire Nation. Flags were draped across several buildings at the entrance just to emphasize who was in control.
"Oh boy..." Elio said worriedly. He pulled the hood of his shawl over his head and pulled the ends forward to conceal his face. He kept his head low as he proceeded at a cautious pace into town.
What Elio saw in town deeply upset him. Fire Nation soldiers were crawling all over the town, harassing businesses and intimidating the local residents. They didn't hesitate to take things from other people, and no one dared to speak out against them.
The Fire Nation's fear and intimidation tactics were in full effect.
Elio was torn at seeing this. He wanted so badly to help this town, but there was truly little he could do. Even if he did have the power and ability to liberate this place, this was not where the fight was. His goal was the North Pole, and he couldn't afford to waste time.
Although the guilt pulled at his heartstrings, he made his way through without drawing any attention to himself. He did not stop to help; he did not stop at all. Once the town was behind him, he was able to take some relief in his safety, but he still found himself wishing he had done something.
However, there was at least one little comfort that he could take in with what he had seen.
When Elio imagined the life of a soldier growing up, it wasn't long before he started to realize what really went behind the elevated propaganda that the Fire Nation taught him – the cruel actions behind the haughty words of conquest.
Seeing what was going on in this town reminded him that he was right, and it impressed upon him even deeper that he had indeed done the right thing by not joining the war...
Continuing on with his journey, he went from a Fire Nation controlled territory to a bigger, bustling Earth Kingdom town. He rode through the streets of the little city with the same level of caution.
Almost a day's journey away, Elio found himself going from one extreme to the other – where before he saw the Fire Nation exercising its dominance, now he saw earthbenders preparing to take back their land. They seemed busy reinforcing the city for a battle that was soon to come.
It was evident that the end of the 100 year war was coming very, very close. A sense of finality and importance seemed to be thinning out the air.
"Excuse me, sir! Could you help us, please?" A woman's voice called out to him. Elio glanced over and saw an older woman and her younger son approach him.
"What's wrong?" Elio asked, establishing eye contact with the mother while still keeping his face concealed to everyone else.
"Our wagon wheel got stuck in a pit and we can't get it out. Do you think you could lend your eel-hound for a second to help pull it out?" The mother requested.
Elio looked up past the mother and son to see in an alley, just around the corner of a small home, a wagon that was full of their belongings. It was tilted to one side by its wheel stuck in a crevice in the ground. They only had one ostrich horse to pull it out, and it looked to be older and weaker.
"Surely one of the many earthbenders here could get that unstuck for you." Elio suggested.
"You would think, but none of them are stopping to help." The son said irritably in response, folding his arms. Elio sighed and nodded in understanding.
"I have a moment. Let me bring Sai around and you can tie him to the wagon."
So Elio brought his eel-hound and assisted the son in getting it hooked up to the stuck wagon. Once they were finished, Elio urged Sai forward. It took some effort from everyone, but they were able to get the wagon wheel free.
"Aaand there! Thank you so much, kind sir. You're a lifesaver!" The mother said thankfully with a little laugh afterwards.
"Of course. It was hardly any trouble." Elio replied politely in return.
"Sorry to bother you and make you stop." The son said.
"Really, it was no trouble. I trust that your ostrich-horse will be able to handle things from here?" Elio asked, placing a hand on their ostrich-horse.
"Yeah, totally," The son answered with a nod. "We'll just avoid any steep hills or deep cracks in the road."
"Haha, yeah. That should work..." Elio chuckled before looking around at the earthbenders again with a more serious expression. "So no one would stop to help?"
"We couldn't really get their attention. Everyone is busy preparing for the massive attack the Fire Nation is preparing. We're not sure when it's coming, but that's what everyone is saying." The mother explained.
"I see. Yeah, that's how it looks...and what about you two? You're packing up and leaving?" Elio asked, observing the large amount of belongings in the wagon. They both nodded.
"Yep. Dad's staying behind to protect the town, but he...told us to get somewhere safe in case the worst happens." The son explained, looking away. Elio let out a heavy sigh.
"I see...well I hope the best for your town and your family. What you all are doing seems like the wisest course of action." Elio said, turning away and going back to Sai. He started to remove the rope tethering the eel-hound to the wagon.
"You're doing the same thing, I bet." The son presumed. Elio turned back towards them and shrugged.
"Something like that." He replied simply. He put one foot on the saddle in preparation to mount Sai again, but he was interrupted by an earthbender coming over to greet him.
"Hey, you there!" He called out before approaching Elio, "Sorry, I just wanted to come by and say thank you for helping my family. Haha, I didn't realize they'd gotten stuck!" He said appreciatively, shaking Elio's hand with a firm grip.
"Heheh, of course, of course...well, I'm just passing through. I don't want to get in the way of what you're all doing here." Elio said, trying to cut the conversation short so he could go on his way.
"Yeah yeah, of course. Thanks again!" The father said with a smile.
Elio swallowed, saying nothing as he once again put his foot on the saddle to mount his eel-hound and leave. However, as he was turning, he realized that another earthbender was approaching him from the side. He reached for Elio's hood and pulled it off his head, revealing his face.
"Hey!" Elio shouted in protest. He tried to leave still, but before he could pull himself onto the eel-hound, the father of the family he'd just helped grabbed Elio's shoulder and turned him to face the two men.
"That's an interesting staff you have there, son. Where'd you get it?" The father asked strangely, a growing level of suspicion present in his tone.
"It was given to me by my master. What's the problem here?" Elio asked defensively.
"Hold on...I do know you!" The other earthbender realized, pointing at him. He spoke as if he'd had suspicions about Elio that were just confirmed. "You're the Wandering Firebender! You're that circus performer that attacked the town west of here!" He accused. Elio's eyes widened in surprise.
"Hey, I've never attacked anyone! I just defend myself!" Elio quickly defended.
"But you are the Wandering Firebender!" The earthbender continued, stepping towards him with his finger still extended.
"I'm just passing through. Please, leave me alone." Elio warned, turned away once more to mount the eel-hound.
The earthbender grabbed his arm to pull him back. Elio's eyes widened. He quickly pulled his arm free and closed the space between them, hitting the man with several quick chi-blocking jabs. The man grunted in shock and pain, collapsing quickly to the ground.
"Kal!" The father shouted, quickly going to help him. Elio hurriedly mounted his eel-hound and urgently flicked the reins, hoping to make a quick getaway.
"All earthbenders, stop that firebender!" The father yelled, getting everyone's attention.
Elio twisted his body and pulled his staff. He turned just in time to swat away an incoming boulder that had been launched at him. As he was passing an earthbender to his left, that man also shot a boulder directly at him. Elio had to awkwardly duck sideways while clutching the reins to avoid it.
Two more earthbenders appeared just ahead of him on the right side of the road. Instead of waiting for them to attack this time, Elio created a large arc of fire with one hand and spun it in a circle. This both shielded him and forced them to step back.
"Block his path!" Elio overheard one of them shout. He quickly looked around and saw 4 more earthbenders on either side of him, standing atop homes that weren't fully reinforced.
All earthbenders around him moved at the same time, creating a giant wall of stone all across the road. Elio pulled on the reins, forcing the eel-hound to stop. This time, however, the animal reacted faster than he did. Instead of coming to a complete stop, it veered left sharply and hurried between two small homes.
"Whoa! Nice call, Sai!" Elio laughed despite almost being thrown off the saddle by the animal's sudden movements.
Although he'd temporarily escaped most of the earthbenders, he wasn't completely out of the woods yet. From above, he already saw two more men, one on the roof of either building, looking down at him. From this position, he couldn't shoot a fireball without risking damage to the unfinished homes. He pulled out his staff and readied himself.
"Sai, up!" Elio said, getting his feet up on the saddle and yanking on the reins at the same time. Sai skidded to a stop and reared its head up. This gave Elio enough momentum to jump up and backwards into the air.
Elio flipped backwards to get himself upright again. He extended his right hand and foot backwards, sending out a forceful, continuous blast to get himself moving back the other way. He growled from the large exertion of energy, but it was enough to push him onto the roof.
As soon as he landed, he immediately had to dodge a rock being bent and thrown towards him from the man on the roof to his left. The second man in front of him pulled out two swords, "Last chance to surrender, you spy! I'll make your death quick!" He threatened.
"Let me pass and I promise not to hurt anyone!" Elio quickly said.
"Painful death it is then." The man narrowed his eyes and lunged at him.
"Why does no one ever listen?" Elio growled to himself as he advanced on the man to get into close combat.
Elio spun his staff in both hands, flicking away an attack aimed right at his head. He spun around and ducked under another swing of the man's other sword. He attempted to sweep the man's legs out, but the man simply hopped over the attack and swung one sword down over his head.
Elio awkwardly rolled to the side and twisted his body in a half-circle, pushing himself into a forward roll. As he got to his feet, he was immediately knocked off-balance. The earthbender on the other roof had managed to hit him with a sizable stone square in the left shoulder.
"Ah! Give me a break!" Elio exclaimed in frustration, dodging another stone being hurled his way.
His attention returned to the man with two swords lunging at him once again. Elio quickly spun the staff again, this time knocking one of the swords away. He sidestepped to the other side of the swordsman to avoid a boulder being hurled at him.
The swordsman swung his remaining sword at Elio's head. Elio raised his staff up to block it. He then quickly dropped the staff and grabbed the man's wrist and chi-blocked his arm. As the man exclaimed in pain, he pulled the man to him and switched places with him. Another boulder was hurled towards him but it hit the man instead of Elio.
"Hey, Sai! Over here!" Elio shouted down to his eel-hound, beckoning him over with a whistle. As the eel-hound made its way over, Elio could hear more earthbending. As he scooped up his staff, he turned around and saw several earthbenders jumping onto the roof of the building.
"Stop now! You won't get away!" They ordered him.
"Watch me." Elio said in response, sliding his staff back into its sleeve.
One of the earthbenders hurled a boulder at him. Before it could hit him, Elio let himself fall back off the roof of the house. He flipped back and landed on Sai's saddle, immediately taking off once again.
"We're almost there!" Elio realized, seeing that he was reaching the other side of town now.
"Cut him off!" Earthbenders shouted from above, raising up more walls for him to run into.
"You know what to do, Sai! Let's go!" Elio urged, tucking his body close to the eel-hound.
Elio held on tight as the eel-hound made a sharp turn once again, going right this time back towards the central town road. After darting through the alley, Elio guided Sai towards the other side of town. In a few seconds, they were able to get across the border.
However, that did not stop the eartbenders from blocking off their path. As more and more were gathering together, they all worked together to raise up a wall big enough and wide enough that Elio would not be able to get around it this time.
Elio yanked the reins back and the eel-hound slid to a stop just before hitting the wall. Elio quickly slid off the saddle, landing on the ground and pulling his staff out. He took two steps forward, getting into a protective stance in front of Sai.
"Capture him alive! He's no good to us dead!" One of the men, the father of the family Elio had helped, shouted to the others. Elio's eyes narrowed and he clutched his staff tightly.
"Let the record show that I am only fighting you to defend myself! I am not your enemy!" Elio shouted in warning to them.
"Men! Advance!" The order was given. The men all began to slowly advance on Elio in attack stances. There were more than a dozen earthbenders; more than Elio could handle at once.
With two fingers, Elio traced a thin line of fire on the ground. He dropped his staff on the ground and moved his hands around in a specific formation. Raising them up high, his thin line rose into a tall protective wall of fire. Elio then picked up his staff again and got to work.
Spinning his staff quickly, he began twisting his body to send out attacks one after the other. He used his staff as well as his feet to bend fireballs and arcing blasts. They were shooting out in such fast succession that it was as if there were several firebenders all attacking at once. Elio swiped his staff all the way across his body, sending out the biggest arcing blast he could.
Two earthbenders suddenly jumped through the wall, holding up large stones to protect themselves from the fire. They landed in front of Elio on either side of him and proceeded to try and attack him immediately. Elio fought his urge to jump back and instead continued attacking.
He stepped towards the man to his left to avoid both of the boulders they were trying to hit him with. Elio raised one end of his staff up towards the man's face, shooting a quick blast of fire into him. The man yelled and was blown back, falling to the ground with a hard slam.
"Noru!" The second man shouted with wide eyes. He stomped on the ground in a wide stance; a move Elio still recognized even though he hadn't seen it in months.
Elio jumped up before he could sink into the ground. He twisted his body, kicking the man in the side of the head and knocking him to the ground. Elio landed awkwardly on his opposite foot and had to hop a few times to regain his balance.
As his wall of fire started to burn out, the other earthbenders behind the line started hurling large stones at him now that they could see him again. Elio's eyes widened in realization. He took several steps to his left, dodging some stones and guiding others away from him with his staff.
Elio's eel-hound suddenly rushed towards him. Elio grabbed onto the saddle as Sai passed by, hoisting himself on top and grabbing the reins again, "Good boy!" Elio said. This animal's training was remarkable!
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to get him out of this situation. As soon as they were moving in one direction, a wall was raised up to block their path. As Elio guided the eel-hound to turn around, he found that they'd been quickly captured with walls on all sides.
"You gotta be kidding!" Elio growled in frustration, dismounting the eel-hound. He looked all around him frantically, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. He didn't know what to do... Would he have to surrender?
Suddenly, another earthbender popped out of the ground with a spin. He got into a wide stance and with a few swift movements used his arms to lower the walls around them. Elio's eyes widened in surprise. He clutched his staff defensively.
"It's alright, Elio! I got you!" The earthbender said to him reassuringly, "That's enough! Leave this firebender alone! He's with me!" He declared, standing in front of Elio protectively. It took a few moments, but Elio finally realized who had come to his rescue.
"Alger! What are you doing here?!" Elio asked with wide eyes.
"Currently saving you. You're welcome." He answered, glancing back at him and smiling. Elio noticed that Alger's hair had grown longer since they had last seen each other; he must've never cut it.
"Master San! What are you doing protecting him? He's a Fire Nation spy!" One of the earthbenders shouted.
"He is my friend! And more importantly, he is our ally!" Alger declared, standing normally now and relaxing.
"Seriously, how'd you find me?" Elio asked.
"I wasn't looking for you. What're you doing out here?" Alger asked.
"I'm going to the North Pole. Cindra needs help." Elio answered quickly.
Alger glanced back at him and was silent for a few seconds before nodding.
"You all continue the work without me! I will be accompanying this man on his very important journey! You try and attack him again, you go through both of us!" Alger threatened, extending a hand out towards the men. Elio walked up to him and put a hand on Alger's arm, lowering it back down to his side.
"It's alright. Let's just get going. I've already wasted enough time here."
"True. Let's go." Alger agreed.
Elio and Alger mounted the eel-hound slowly. Both of them cautiously kept their eyes on the other men to ensure that they didn't try to attack again. Of course, because of Alger, they did not. Elio flicked the reins and they rode away quickly.
"That was quite a display you put on, Elio. I didn't realize you were such a proficient firebender." Alger said.
"It's just practice is all. I've been getting back in the hang of it," Elio said. "Where'd you come from, Alger?" Elio asked again curiously.
"I've been helping this town the past few days; getting all of the buildings reinforced and assisting the women and children with evacuating the area." Alger explained.
"And Sri? Where is she?" Elio asked.
"She chose to stay in Ba Sing Se. Despite the Fire Nation taking over the city, her parents were still allowed to enter the city. Since they're all non-benders, they've gone fairly overlooked. Don't worry, they're doing fine." Alger reassured him.
"Good...that's really good," Elio sighed in relief. At least that was one less thing to worry about. "What about you? Why'd you leave?"
"Let's just say the earthbenders in the city were treated much harsher than non-benders. It grew to be too much, so we both agreed that it would be best for me to escape. Sadly, I had to leave everything behind. I can only hope that Sri and her family will take care of my estate." Alger explained.
"I'm sorry...I know what that feels like." Elio said softly, expressing his empathy. Alger patted him on the shoulder.
"It's only material things, Elio. Now tell me, what's going on with Cindra?"
"The Fire Nation isn't just planning to attack the Earth Kingdom when the summer solstice comes; they're also gonna attack the North Pole again. And unlike you guys, the Water Tribe has no idea that they're coming." Elio filled him in.
"Where did you get this information from?" Alger asked.
"The princess of the Fire Nation told me herself. She's a good liar, but I have to believe her on this. So I'm going up there to warn them and help out however I can." Elio said. Alger nodded.
"I understand. If that's the case then I will help you to get as far north as possible. I'll see to it that you get passage to the North Pole." Alger decided.
"Are you sure? Don't these people need your help?" Elio asked.
"There are many earthbenders here that can help, Elio. Your mission is more urgent. So we go together and get you to the North Pole before the Fire Nation arrives."
Elio nodded wordlessly, glancing back at Alger before turning his attention forward again. Just like that, he had company once again to help him navigate his way through the Earth Kingdom as fast as possible.
Hopefully it would be fast enough...
