chapter 23: the search

Ghazans POV

"She's gone." I stammered when the smoke was cleared away and the men, along with Ming had vanished.

"Zhan, are you ok?" Femke asked but I didn't reply, barely able to grasp what had just happened. I just told her how I felt. And now she was gone.

'Should have brought it up earlier.' I thought as I kept staring at the place I last saw her.

"Ok, we have to make a plan and execute on it before she reaches her parents." I could hear Zaheer say the distance.

"Maybe her parents just wanted to speak to her?" Bolin commented.

"Sure, that's why they started attacking and saying things are 'classified'."Femke replied, a little annoyed, at which Bolin looked at her sadly.

"Sorry, I didn't meant it like that. I'm just so worried for Ming." Femke said when she realized she'd sounded rather cruel.

"We're all worried for her, Femke, which is why we should go and try to help her." Zaheer smiled as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"She can handle herself." I said.

"But those guards took her down quite easily, she might be in danger." Femke replied.

"She's stronger than that." I held on firmly. "I know it. We all know it."

"I want her to be strong enough to beat them and return here on her own. We all want that" Femke said as she looked in the distance.

"We better go to the North Pole. Just because she can handle herself doesn't mean we should leave her to her own devices." Zaheer smiled as he placed a hand on Femke's shoulder. "The one thing I'm worried about is the trauma her parents inflicted on her already." Zaheer said as he plucked his beard a little. "That could hinder her actions.

"She won't let that stop her." I said.

"Those people starved and abused her for years. That trauma could be something she won't be able to hide" Zaheer brought in.

"Victims of abuse can carry around the scars of their abusive past for the rest of their lives." Femke said with a sad look. "Some even gravitate towards suicide. Just to be rid off it."

"That's not something Ming would do. I mean come on! Fireboy over there needed to cheat by using lightning bending to win from her." I said, which made Mako let out a loud 'Hey!'.

"Just because she hides the emotions doesn't means they're not there. Ming might be strong but femke is right. We should go to the North Pole to help out." Zaheer said.

"How are we gonna find her? The North Pole is kinda big" Bolin asked. "We'll never find her if we don't know where to look."

"We do." I said.

"We know were she used to live. She told us after we took her in." Zaheer added. "We can find her. All we need is a plan."

"We'll help you save her" Noatak said.

"We're used to that place. We'll be able to handle ourselves just fine." Tarrlok added firmly.

"Tarrlok, I hate to remind you of this but you're not a bender anymore. That might complicate things." Noatak said sternly.

"Lucky for us I picked up another element in prison." Tarrlok said with a smirk.

"You did?" Bolin and Wu asked in unison.

"I don't think that is possible." Mako said. "Someone would have noticed."

"Well, they didn't and this is the result." Tarrlok replied with a smirk as he made a small rock move a few inches.

"Nice one." I said.

"When did you have time to learn that?" Noatak asked.

"In jail during our time outside I picked up a rock to practice with." Tarrlok smirked. "Using some of the basic earthbending moves Femke told me about during our time together."

"Jail time means training time. I like this guy." I nodded, feeling Ming's absence as there was no back and forth after that.

"If we can spruce up his bending a little he could indeed be a good help" Tziza smiled as she looked at the map.

"Count us in to help as well." Korra said, at which the others nodded. Even though they barely knew us they at least wanted to help us save Ming.

"Thank you. We could use all the help we can get." Zaheer said. "You can start by convincing the white lotus to stop chasing us."

"We'll make sure you can go there without being chased. Should we join you afterward?" Korra asked, ready to help us even though she only saw us as her killers. Good.

"No. They might feel intimidated if they see you. That's something we don't want to happen." Zaheer said sternly. "You better head back to Republic City afterwards. This is something we have to solve on our own."

"You do realize we'll be better matched up against them with two benders who can bend all four elements right?" I asked, at which Korra sighed.

"Really?!" She asked aggravated, before calming herself. "Still have to get used to that. Sorry."

"It's quite alright." Femke replied as I started to get impatient. We really should get going.

"If you say so." Korra shrugged.

"Ghazan does have a point. The more people we have, the faster we could free Ming." Femke said.

"I know but don't you think they might feel intimidated if we were to bring the Avatar along? They might panic and do something to Ming Hua." Zaheer asked me as he looked at Femke sternly.

"Maybe but in case of a fight it would be handy to have a second person around who can bend all four elements." Zaheer argued.

"Maybe you could even learn from them, Korra. You know. What they would have done if you had been taken as a kid." Bolin tried all of a sudden, which made everyone look at him sternly, including Zaheer.

"First thing we need to do once we're there is fill in the authorities on what happened. That way the parents can't call them claiming we're up to our old tricks again." Zaheer said, ignoring what Bolin had said.

"We're going to get her back." I said. I started feeling empty without Ming around.

"After we convinced the White Lotus to not chase you we'll radio Eska and Desna to let them know what happened." Korra nodded firmly.

"After that we need a ride to the village of Hanuda." Zaheer started, but stopped when he saw all Team Avatar members looked at him in unease.

"What?" I asked, a little confused when I saw how they were reacting.

"Hanuda's a pit. Known for its criminal history. That's were Ming Hua was born?" Mako asked.

"What of it?" I asked.

Judgemental prick

Rang through my head while I remembered the day we found Ming.

"Zhan, could you go collect some water for diner?" Zaheer asked me just as I finished plucking the last leftovers of lunch from my teeth.

"As long as I don't have to eat what you're cooking." I called to Zaheer jokingly, which earned me a foul glare.

I'll be happy if we're getting out of here. I can't see how anyone enjoys living here.

I thought as I started to use a piece of rock to make a lava disk to cut open up the nearby frozen lake. Just when I wanted to lower the bucket into the water I heard a rustle behind me after which I felt a sting in my neck.

"Don't make a sound." A female voice called from behind me.

"Well, I don't want to end up like a pincushion so I guess I'll listen." I replied, which made the female behind me make a hesitating noise before she pricked in my neck a little firmer.

"Do you have any money?" She asked.

"Just a bucket and a piece of rock." I replied calmly, at which the girl growled.

"Are you alone?" She asked.

"I've got a few friends. Just as broke as me." I smirked.

"Dangit!" The girl cursed after which she knocked me unconscious and when I woke up, she was gone.

A few days later when I was gathering water again I was surprised to find her again but this time at a safe distance from behind a rock. She seemed to be observing me as I worked.

"You do realize I'm an Earthbender right?" I called as I put my bucket down and turned to the rock she was hiding behind.

"No." She softly replied after which a young armless girl appeared. Couldn't be much older then me, wearing rags.

"I'm not going to bite. Want to come in and meet the rest? We've got food." I offered, seeing how thin the girl was.

"I tried to mug you yesterday and now your offering me food?" She asked me with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't see why not." I replied with a shrug as I walked in front of her towards the cave we used as a hideout and put the water down near Tziza before I got a few dumplings and handed them to the girl, who looked at them, puzzled, before she quickly ate them, making makeshift water arms to do so.

"Made a new friend?" Xai Bau asked when he walked up to me, causing the girl to hunch over and growl.

"She just needs food." I replied as I handed her some more food, which she scarfed down.

"What's your name?" Xai Bau asked kindly.

"Why do you want to know? Want to turn me in?" She asked suspiciously.

"I wanted to know because I care to know." The older man smiled as he held out his hand towards the young girl, who looked at the hand like it suspiciously. "What do they call you?"

"Ming Hua." the girl said after a moment.

"That was quite the introduction." Tenzin commented as Zaheer wound the story down. "It's almost as if every human is capable of horrible things, no matter what background."

"She joined us after a few days. She barely trusted us at first but in the end she managed and came with us." Xai Bau smiled.

"She was great from the start." I smirked "Temper and all."

"That's an interesting way to put it." Xai Bau smirked.

"She's been a great help." Tziza added.

"Yeah." I answered with a smirk.

"Can we get down to business?" Dahlia suddenly said, which made us all look at her shocked. She had barely spoken up until now. "How are we going to get to the North Pole?"

"We can try and see if we can get a ship somewhere." Zaheer added. "Red Lotus people that arranged our crossover to the North Pole when we came to free P'li are still there."

"Didn't the Red Lotus disband?" Korra asked suspiciously.

"They're still alive. I know someone who still gives people a free passage to the North Pole " Zaheer replied as he sat down in the lotus position. "If I could contact him I could ask him if he could give us a ride."

"You mean Gi? He was a fun guy." I smirked.

"Focus! This is a rescue mission, remember?" Dahlia said firmly.

"About that; I think it's for the best you and your daughter go to Republic City with the Avatar and wait for us there." Xai Bau said as he looked from Dahlia to her daughter.

"Why?" Dahlia asked.

"This is going to be a dangerous mission and we don't want your daughter to get hurt." Xai Bau said.

"Why not send just her to Republic City with the Avatar then?" Dahlia asked.

"Because you're her mother. If something were to happen to you, she would have no one to take care of her." Xai Bau said.

"Okay then, but be carefull." Dahlia said sternly, giving me a hug as she spoke, I returned it.

"I promise I won't get killed." I smirked at her teasingly, which made her ruffle my hair in an affectionate way before we all went to prepare for the mission ahead of us.

Well, most others did, I was finished quickly, sat down and looked at the wall of the small room I found myself in, wondering where Ming was right now. I knew she would be doing well, most likely she was trying to escape right now. Would she be able to do so? Or would her captors know what they were up against?

Probably not, Ming managed to surprise us all with her power

I thought with a smirk on my face.

I almost feel bad for those people

I imagined them pleading for her to spare their lives.

"Okay, we're all set." Femke called, after which I walked out to the others. Dahlia took her daughter on the arm and walked to the Sky Bisons team Avatar had brought along to get here. Neat. I always wanted to find out what flying on a Sky Bison would feel like.

"I'm not getting on the one with the runny nose." I joked when I saw one of the two Sky Bison standing there with just that.

"That's Juicy. He does that all the time." Opal smiled as Femke walked up to Juicy and patted it on the nose.

"Not to bad until he sneezes." Femke smiled as she started, quickly taking cover as the bison sneezed. Zaheer managed to dodge in the nick of time but I got covered in green gunk.

"Well, there goes my favorite gi." I said.

"You look like a slime monster from back home." Femke replied with a smile on her face. Zaheer approached her, but stumlbed.

"Slime monsters? Sounds cool to fight." I smirked while I kept a stern eye on Zaheers legs, they weren't looking to bad. He seemed fit as ever despite the fact that we had been on the run from the moment he had come back to us.

I'm seeing things. It's not like he fainted ore anything

I thought with a shrug as I followed the others and got onto the Sky Bison.

"Juicy, yip yip!" Opal called with a smile on her face as Femke took a spot in the saddle and placed her head against Zaheer's shoulder, smiling as she did so.

"Oogie yip yip." Tenzin called next to us, which caused both Bisons to take off at once. As we parted ways I saw my niece, who was on Oogie with Tenzin, the avatar and her friends as well as her mother look over the side into the deep with gleaming eyes while we headed the other way with Opal. Towards the coast and towards Ming.

Hang in there, Ming. We're on our way

I thought as I looked at the coastline closing in on us, praying with all my might Ming was doing okay and that we would be able to find her soon.

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And with that I end the chapter. I hope you all liked it!

A/N:

On the advise of my beta reader I tried to tell the whole chapter from one POV, I hoped it worked out.

that was all for now! I hope you liked it!

Please leave a review.

Beta Read by Paranoidgirl