Alright, the next action packed installment of "The Lives That We've Lost", sorry, I promised Friday night, and right now it's 2 am . . . Saturday. Uhhhh. I can explain! I was doing school work, I've begun working out so I can learn Aikido (the Kyoshi Warriors use Aikido) and then my shoulder first was like, "Alright, I'll work with you." 5 minutes later, "Haha, jk," and it nearly dislocates.
Yep . . . eventful week.
The next morning, the siblings rose quietly, Yinling sniffled a little from the pain in her stomach, but she quickly quieted down, they began walking.
The sun fell harshly on their skin, the hot rays beating down on them and causing them to sweat profusely. A few hours later, they weren't walking, they were staggering, hunger and dehydration taking its toll on their bodies. If there was a point to lose hope, this was it.
'We'll never reach Ba Sing Se,' Kunwei thought gloomily as he shuffled forward, one step at a time, 'Never.'
"We're almost to the next town," Gang Chao said as he pointed to the road sign pointing to the next place on the map, "We'll be there in an hour, come on."
They soon reached and walked through the busy town, stomachs growling, feet tired and throats dry. Kunwei groaned, "Can't we get something to eat brother?"
"I already told you," Gang Chao replied evenly, "we barely have enough money, we're going to need to get more before we can eat."
Yinling sniffled a bit as her stomach growled loudly once more, Kunwei looked greedily at the foods hanging from the rafters of the stalls, he only needed a distraction . . .
It came in the form of a brawl, a hapless peasant had bumped into a mean spirited man and they were now in the middle of a large crowd.
"Apologize, immediately peasant," the large man said angrily, "You have no right to bump into me like that!"
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't see you there," the peasant bowed and pleaded in an apologetic voice. The poor man was sweating bullets and shaking visibly.
All the merchants by now had their eyes on the scene and not on their stalls, none of them noticed a small pair of hands reaching up and grabbing the food that sat on the edge. Kunwei grabbed the food and quickly ran off, only to have a hand grab the collar of his shirt and prevent him from taking off.
"What gives?" he asked as he looked up to see his assailant, he saw a painted face and green robes, he noticed that the hand that grabbed him was shrouded in a tough fabric.
"Thought you could get away with stealing, huh?" the figure asked as she pulled him upright, Gang Chao ran over to the two, glaring at the warrior for a second before looking down at Kunwei and his hands filled with the food.
The glare was quickly transferred to the younger brother, "Kunwei, how did you get that food?"
"Do you know him?" the woman asked the teenager as she stiffly escorted him back to the merchant's stall where the crime had taken place. Gang Chao sighed as he held Yinling's hand.
"Yes, he's my younger brother . . . and in big trouble," he said and looked down at Kunwei, "Why did you steal food?"
"Cause we didn't have any left to eat," Kunwei argued, "It's not like we have money or anything!"
Gang Chao closed his eyes and sighed, "We were going to get money," he replied holding out a scroll, "A man gave me some copper pieces to deliver a message to the next town over."
Kunwei looked at the ground, ashamed of himself for his behavior, they arrived at the stall where the young earthbender returned the food to the merchant, articulating an apology at Gang Chao's prodding. The merchant glared down in response but accepted the apology nonetheless, "Perhaps you can make up your inexcusable behavior by sweeping the shop," he said, thrusting a broom into Kunwei's hands, "Come on now . . . I'm waiting."
Kunwei walked into the shop and began sweeping the ground, Gang Chao looked over at the warrior, "I'm sorry my brother had to bother you like that, I apologize for the waste of time we caused you."
"It wasn't entirely a waste of time," the warrior pointed out, "It's our duty to protect the towns and people who live in them."
Gang Chao smiled, but the grin quickly disappeared as he stared at his brother who was still sweeping the shop, "I don't know what got into him, we were desperate but not enough to steal," he said frowning, "I never wanted any of this to happen."
The warrior looked up at him with her blue eyes, seemingly understanding, but Kunwei walked up before she could say anything. He looked up at the warrior with his brown eyes, "Sorry for troubling you," he said as he bowed respectfully, "It'll never happen again."
"It better not," the woman replied admonishingly.
He nodded, looking at the ground now, the shop keeper crossed his arms over his chest, "I don't want to see you around my stall, alright kid?"
"Yes sir," Kunwei said, abashed he silently followed Gang Chao out of the store.
They left the town, there being no places with vacancies, the place was already packed with refugees and traders alike. Gang Chao set up camp a mile or so away from the town, he started a small fire and cooked some of the food he had bought before Kunwei had been caught stealing. The silence around the fire was steely, Gang Chao not knowing how to react to his brother's thievery.
"I'm sorry," Kunwei spoke up finally, his voice was apologetic, he looked up at his brother, ashamed, "I shouldn't have done it."
The elder brother sighed, "Why did you do it then?"
"We were hungry, we didn't have any money," Kunwei shrugged, studying the flames that licked the branches fueling the small fire, "We were desperate."
"But not desperate enough to steal," Gang Chao said, his voice rising a little, "That was stupid Kunwei, we would have been fine without you stealing. It was wrong," he finished as he stared at Kunwei.
Kunwei poked the fire with a long branch, he was silent for a moment until, "You're mad at me, aren't you?"
"Not mad, just disappointed," Gang Chao corrected as he served his brother and sister food, "I know that everything was looking hopeless but we can't lose who we are. Dad wouldn't want us stealing."
Kunwei nodded, smiling a little at his sister who had a look of glee on her face as she ate the small meal. It wasn't much but it was a lot better than having nothing to eat for a whole day. Darkness settled over the camp soon after, the flickering light of the fire illuminating only a few foot radius.
"Come on, time to get some shut eye," Gang Chao said as he sat against a tree, "I'll take first watch," he said.
Kunwei nodded, "Alright, see you in a few hours," he said as he laid next to the dying fire, trying to get some warmth from the embers. They had lost their sleeping bags and blankets in the robbery, all they had was the clothes on their backs and the small amount of food Gang Chao had bought.
Gang Chao watched as his brother and sister slept, after a few minutes of keeping vigilant watch, the long walk of the day had caught up to him, he could barely keep his eyes open. He tried to stay awake . . . but the peace of the night time forest soon overpowered him, his eyes slowly shut . . .
The moon shone brightly in the darkened skies, Kunwei tried hard to get some sleep, but he felt exposed as they slept on the path. He berated himself for being scared, they had slept on the path before and Gang Chao was keeping watch. Still, something about tonight felt . . . he didn't know . . . off. He turned over on his side, back towards the fire, and looked at the dark trees.
A wind blew, sending shivers down his spine as the leaves rustled and the trees groaned. Why did everything seem so wrong this time?
Suddenly there was a rustle in the branches and Kunwei sat up abruptly, a dark shape rushed towards him and he was about to yell out when something hit him hard and knocked him to the ground. He glared at the thug that pinned him to the ground and kept him from talking.
Gang Chao quickly got up and began fighting the thugs that surrounded them, "Kunwei! Yinling! RUN!"
'That piece of information may have been helpful five minutes ago,' Kunwei thought as the thug lifted him to his feet and held his arms tightly around his back.
One of the thugs picked up a handful of dirt and threw it in Gang Chao's eyes, the teen grunted as he became blinded. Another one took that chance to hit him over the head with a rock, effectively knocking him out.
"BROTHER!" Kunwei shouted and kicked the man holding him in the shin, he broke free and began to run towards his fallen sibling, "Why you little!" he yelled as he bull rushed his assailants.
Kunwei was forced to the ground by one of the thugs, while the other one, obviously the leader, grabbed a hold of Yinling, "We'll take your sister here," he sneered.
"Let my sister go!" Kunwei shouted at the top of his lungs before a hand clamped over his mouth. He bit the hand . . . hard.
"Rrrghhhh!" the thug yelled and let Kunwei go for a second before another one grabbed a hold of him.
"Shut up boy, know your place! Your brother isn't here to protect you," the leader growled as he tightened his grip on Yinling's wrist, causing her to cry out in pain.
"Brother, help me!" she screeched loudly, a look of fear etched on her face.
The leader slapped Yinling full on across the face, "Be quiet, no one's protecting you now," he sneered, "Thanks for your sister," he grinned maliciously, "we'll sell her to a real nice slave master over the river."
Kunwei struggled futilely to get free of the thug's grasp but to no avail, he suddenly stopped as he heard a peculiar whistling noise followed by a dull thud. The thug's grip loosened and he groaned and fell over, a bruise forming on his temple where a small rock had collided with it. Suddenly a fissure opened in the ground and another thug fell into it, yelling out in surprise.
An elongated object was launched and hit another enemy in the chest, he fell over and groaned. Even more of the gang were pulled into the shadows and subdued. Soon the leader and two of his cronies remained, staying in a tight group.
"What's going on here?" the leader yelled as he held Yinling closer to him, "Show yourselves or the girl's going to get it!"
Suddenly, dark shapes dropped from the trees and landed softly on the ground, another figure emerged from the bushes in a battle stance. Kunwei noted the stance and the fact that some of the thugs were taken down by a familiar art.
"An earthbender," he said to himself, he was distracted quickly by the scene in front of him. He saw the dark shapes surrounding the thugs and moving in closer, being illuminated in the moonlight. He recognized them as the group of warriors that they had met in town.
One of them stepped forward, "Let go of the girl and surrender, we don't want to hurt you," the warrior said, holding up a hand that was obviously a signal for her warriors to not move. Kunwei could see that she was the leader and the woman who had kept him from getting away after stealing the food.
"Never!" the leader replied, "Do you think I'm intimidated by women? Even if they are the Kyoshi Warriors? Let me pass or the girl dies."
Yinling looked fearfully at the knife the leader unsheathed and pressed to her neck, showing that he wasn't kidding. A brief but tense standoff ensued, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors standing firm and locked in a battle of wills with the desperate leader of the bandits.
Suddenly the Kyoshi warrior stood down and ordered her troops to do so as well, the leader sneered in victory and let his guard down for just a fraction of a second . . .
"Rahhh!" Gang Chao got up from his place in the dirt and caught the leader in a headlock with one arm while pushing the knife away with the other, slicing his hand deeply in the process. His head spun from the injuries but he held onto the leader. They both hit the ground and Gang Chao tightened his chokehold, wrapping his legs around the leader's waist and keeping the man off balance.
Chaos erupted as the two other thugs moved to free their leader but were met by the Kyoshi warriors instead, the battle ended fairly quickly after that. Kunwei ran to Yinling and held her tight, comforting her.
The leader, caught in a chokehold for so long, fell unconscious and Gang Chao relaxed his grip and stood up. Breathing heavy between words, he glared at the leader, "Don't . . . ever . . . steal," before he lost all control of his body and passed out on the ground.
The last thing he heard before unconsciousness was his brother calling his name loudly. Then darkness took over.