~~~~~~~~~~~~~*`~~: Chapter Two: ~~`*~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Now we know why the Avatar looks so young." said Iroh thoughtfully, observing as the crew began to melt the icy sphere with controlled fire bending, the dark shapes in the orb looked like there had been a battle of some sort.
"Uncle?" Asked Zuko in confusion; though he hid it well. "Are you saying that he froze himself in a block of ice?"
"I don't think it was on purpose." Iroh stated wisely, "But this... the shape of the ice and the perfect way it's circular... I believe this is the work of the wind spirit... But I can't be too sure..."
The globe cracked loudly, unleashing a whoosh of powerful air, and suddenly a girl, perhaps a year older then the Avatar fell out of the sphere of ice, unconscious but breathing evenly, sliding out of the ice to the hard metal floor of the deck.
She was clearly an air Nomad and an Air bending master, by the looks of her orange and yellow jumpsuit and arrow tattoos. Her hair was dark brown and came down to her knees, her skin was creamy tanned.
But that wasn't why Zuko was staring at the air-bender; she had a mythical bird tattoo holding the Air Nation emblem in its needle like claws, on her forehead, right in the middle of her blue arrow tattoo. The same could be said for her hands and bare feet.
Iroh bent down to check the girls pulse, "It's what I expected," Iroh said wearily, "We must be very careful of her."
"Why?" Asked Zuko impatience "Is it because of the arrows." He had seen those arrows on statues of the air temple ruins, and just then on the Avatar.
"She is a Master Air-bender." nodded Iroh before standing up and dusting the non-existent dirt from his clothing. "But she has also been touched by the Air Spirit. It is my belief that she is the one that created this dome of ice, to escape a threat of some kind most likely." He looked at his nephew. "Whenever someone has been touched by a spirit the spirit they have encountered leaves something for the mortal to remember them by." He looked back at the unconscious girl, "And it just happens that the spirit she has encountered saw fit to mark her with a physical reminder." Iroh looked back at the dome of half melted ice. "I suggest we get them inside, it won't do for them to get sick. Do you think they'd enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?"
"Prince Zuko! I think you might want to see this."
*time skip*
"Ally! Ally!-" said girl was suddenly reminded of the first time someone awoke her with the voice of panic.
"Ally! Ally! ALLY! Wake up! Wake up NOW!" Monk Gyasto came into her view. She got out of bed and the door was knocked down by a blast of fire.
Ally's stormy blue eyes flared open in an instant; she got up quickly with a swift movement helped by air bending and her hands instinctively went for her metal Kyoshi fans - they weren't there! - She scanned her environment with a fierce fighting stance. They were in a fire nation prison, the long hall way glowed with an eerie rusted red, and along the walls were small cages, only enough to stand in and a meter in diameter. Fire Nation insignias lined along the wall and Ally shivered at they're menacing red, it seemed the colour had changed from royal flame red to blood red. Her stomach quivered.
"Ally." whispered a small voice behind her.
"Sophie!" Ally chocked spinning around, fear for her little cousin and the others crippled her. "Are you okay?"
Sophie nodded, "where is Dawn? Snow-fire? Where are the bison? The lemurs?"
Ally looked around to see the other air benders in their own cage like prisons most were awake and looked rather grim. The babies were missing however and Ally was fearful for them. Where were they? What if the fire-benders have gotten more ruthless? "I don't know." Ally whispered tightly.
Ally stared at the iron bars, she hadn't completed the last level of air bending, she had created a new move like Aang had and received master-ship early. The next level was air slices so thin it could cut anything. Biting her lip she stood up, "How many Council members are awake?" Ally called down the hallway.
"I am!" Tane called from all the way down the end of the hall. The others; Kin, Jin, Lyra, Damien and Tom didn't answer.
"Have you finished the last tile for training?" Ally asked.
"...No..." Tane called back down-heartedly after a tense few seconds.
Ally closed her eyes, think! Think! She thought, there has to be something... She needed a plan... Okay there were thirty-two of us, Including the babies... her fellow masters except Tane was out of the count so that made, twenty-seven... obviously the younger ones couldn't participate in the fighting part of the escape and asking Aireon to help would be stupid because of his injuries he was still suffering... Koiki couldn't fight; he'd probably get his pants caught on fire while trying to dodge...
That only left her and Tane. Oh things were going very badly, might as well fail in style then. Breath, Ally told herself, just a few decent air swipes and you'll get the others out of here quicker than a flying lemur could steal fruit.
Suddenly the floor rocked and there was a feeling of movement under her feet. They were on a ship! Suddenly there was the sound of a door opening on the far side of the corridor. Ally listened carefully to the steady footsteps, it was a guard and his keys caught Ally's attention.
Carefully Ally took aim and created a jet of air that sucked the keys into her awaiting hands, she looks away as the guard glanced at her, and she hid the keys under her sleeve.
She heard the guard's foot-steps receding and smiled, security had obviously gone lax... Not that it was high security last time she was captured... Perhaps I should take offence to that, Ally though with a smile, ah well... good for us, bad for them.
Ally carefully checked for guards before pulling out the ring of keys. She slid her arm through the bars of the cage and turned each key in the lock, finally there was a click and the cage swung open. Ally felt vibes of anxiousness as she unlocked all the cages as quickly as possible. The Air Nomads scrambled out of their cages, unusually quite in their nervousness.
"Someone wake up the others." Ally whispered as she leaned against the door and listened through the key hole, suddenly she noticed her new tattoos that looked like the Thunder birds holding the Air emblem in their needle like claws... when did that happen? She thought in a daze.
"What do you think the lemurs will taste like?" the voice silenced her breathing as she listened more intently.
"What dinner is supposed to taste like? Ask the cook." said another voice in annoyance. Ally inhaled sharply, anger brewing in her stormy blue orbs.
"What's prince Zuko going to do with those large animals, do you reckon?"
"Don't know, don't care, maybe sell them to the circus."
A hand rested on her shoulder and Ally jumped slightly; it was just Kin, who looked sheepish though her eyes tight with tension. Damien, Tom, Lyra, Tane and Jin surrounding the others protectively. Aireon was leaning against a very tense Koiki.
"What about those nomad babies?" Ally leaned in, desperation seeable on her face.
"Probably just drop them off at some random earth kingdom town orphanage. I hear they're in General Iroh's room." the annoyed voice said in a bored tone.
Ally had enough. She slipped into battle mode and blasted the door open with a bang. The guards didn't know what hit them as they hit the walls and fell unconscious before they could blink.
"Hey!" shouted a guard down the hall way; he was holding a spear.
Perfect.
Ally raced ahead of the group and easily swooped low to dodge a sloppy fire attack, kicking his legs out from under him Ally quickly knocked him unconscious with an elbow jab to the temple. She picked up the spear and snapped the blade off; the made up staff was not made to air-bend but it'll have to do for now.
She did a quick roundhouse kick to knock away a hand full of fire, and then tossed the fire bender into the far wall with a quick powerful air blast.
By then the others had caught up and waiting Ally to lead them to freedom. Spirits they put a lot of pressure on me, Ally thought as she swiftly started to lead them down the corridor, weary of every corner and alert for incoming danger. Now she knew what Aang felt.
A spin to the left and a blast of air to the right, and soldier with a sword was blown away like a ragdoll. Ally breathed in deeply, trying and failing to calm herself as they came up to a staircase.
Ally looked behind her to see the others look determinedly resigned to a battle, heck! Even the three to fifteen year olds took on a fighting stance; Audrey, Rewa, Ulani, Alika, Lani, Sallin, Budi, Turua, Timon, Kade, Keoni, Malu, Hori, Kaimi, Hika... even Ally's shy four year old Sophie had a look that shouldn't be on her face for many, many years. Koiki seemed hesitant but resolved to fight.
Ally glared at the staircase in front of her, her back toward the group. Agony gripped her again; they had lost their child hood because of the stupid fire-nation. If she met fire lord Sozin again she would...
Ally pushed away those thoughts; Monk Gyasto wouldn't want me to be dwelling on things I had no control over, nor would he want me to have such violent feelings.
She sent a reassuring smile behind her and started to climb the stairs with a sense of tense calm before the storm.