~~~~~~~~~~~~~*`~~: Chapter Twenty Four: ~~`*~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ally looked at the wanted poster of her donned in the Air Vengeance Spirit costume, Ally was kind of glade they named her alter ego 'Nightingale,' she was wanted Alive for seventy hundred thousand gold pieces, Dead for five thousand million. She also saw a wanted poster of Zuko's alter ego, the Blue Spirit. Then there was a wanted poster of Aang.
Ally whistled at the amount on Aang's head, it was five times more then hers, "We should get moving," she said to the others.
"Are you kidding?" Aang said, taking down a flyer from the advertisement pole, "The Fire Days Festival is today," he said excitedly.
"Oh no!" Ally shook her head, as Sokka and Katara looked at the flyer. "Aang that was a hundred years ago we went to a Fire Days Festival with Kuzon and Susan, and plus I'd rather not eat hot pops in prison."
"But think about it Ally!" Aang said, not to be derailed from his crazy idea, "This'd be a great place for me to study some real fire benders!"
"News flash," Sokka said, "fire benders who would happily burn our behinds into the next century."
"I have to learn fire bending at some point, and this could be my only chance to watch a master up close." Aang said.
Ally bit her lip, Aang had a point. "Alright I'm in, but at the first sign of trouble we're out of there," Aang beamed, "And I'll kick your ass." Aang pouted.
Katara reluctantly nodded.
"What!" Sokka said in disbelieve, "You want to walk into a Fire Nation town where they're all fired up with all their, you know, fire?"
"We'll wear disguises." Katara said.
Sokka groaned.
"Majority rules," Ally reminded.
Sokka huffed, "Fine, fine."
Ally coaxed Snow-fire into staying out of sight and took out her dark brown cloak; she pulled it on and lifted the hood over her head.
"I'm kicking your ass into the next century when we get out of this Aang!" Ally gasped as she threw off her mask and kept running, fire bending soldiers hot on her tail. She spun around and shot a few air disks at several oncoming guards, she stumbled and continued to run with her friends who were following a stranger with bombs in his pocket.
Who walks around carrying bombs, of all things, in their pocket?
Ally bit her lip as her back and stomach cried out in protest, "I hope they can really hear that bison whistle!" Sokka said as Aang blew hard on it.
"You're not the only one!" Ally shouted as they turned another alleyway. "Do you even know where we're going?" Ally asked the stranger helping them.
"Know this town better then – oh," The man said after leading them to a dead end, "Okay, not this way."
Ally looked up, "Appa, Snow-fire; down here!"
Ally helped up the stranger onto Appa as the rest climbed up on too. Ally jumped up on Snow-fire, who was already taking off. Ally watched as the man threw a bomb down at the fireworks, Ally raised an eyebrow.
"Nice finish." Ally called to him and jumped onto Appa's saddle, Snow-fire smoothly glided next to them.
"You seem to really know your explosives," said Sokka.
"I'm familiar." The stranger admitted, taking off his mask and pulling off his hood.
"You're a fire nation soldier!" Sokka said.
"I was. My name's Chey."
That night Chey told them about 'Jeong Jeong the Deserter' who was highly ranked and the first to leave the fire nation army and live. Ally kept her mouth shut with this one; Aang was all for going to this 'crazy genius, who wasn't with the fire lord' Katara said it wouldn't hurt to talk to him. Sokka was against it, as usual.
"Ally, what do you think?" Aang asked, giving Ally pleading eyes.
Ally sighed, "Aang, I think we should wait until you've mastered water and earth before fire."
"Finally! Someone agrees with me!" Sokka said in exasperation.
Ally threw a mango-nut at him, "However, I agree with Katara; it couldn't hurt to talk to him." She finished.
Sokka all but threw his hands in the air and cried out in frustration.
Suddenly people jumped out from the trees and surrounded them; pointing spears, arrows and swords at them.
Ally took out her fans and took a defensive stance, "Put your weapons down!" one of them ordered. Ally hesitated, "Now!"
Snow-fire snarled but was silenced by Ally's silent warning look.
Ally looked at Aang uncertainly, he gave a grim nod. Ally sighed and unhappily dropped her fans and came out of her defensive stance. She glared at one of them as they took her fans; she was tempted to stamp on that hand with a foot.
A hand came down on her shoulder and directed her through the forest, Ally glared at the owner of the hand and he let go quickly.
"Jeong Jeong told you not to look for Avatar!" The man up front snarled at Chey.
"Whoa, back up, you know these guys!" Sokka asked.
"Oh, of course, Lin Yi's an old buddy! Right Lin Yi?" Chey said.
"Shut up! Keep moving." Lin Yi snapped.
"Some friend you've got." Ally said dryly.
"His just in a bad mood," Chey explained, "Aren't yeh Lin Yi?"
The person who had previously had his hand on Ally's shoulder sighed in exasperation, "He just doesn't know when to shut up." He muttered to someone.
"Shut up!" Lin Yi repeated angrily, this time prodding Chey with his spear. They were led to a place next to a river, and down the hill they were on was a small shack. "Go on. He sees you only." Lin Yi said pushing Chey down the slop.
Ally griped Aang's wrist as he was about to talk and try to meet this infamous Jeong Jeong, "Aang these people are hostile, you saw how head-honcho treated Chey, don't give them a reason," She whispered in his ear.
"But I need to talk to Jeong Jeong," Aang whispered back.
"You will," Ally said softly, "But wait until these guys back off. I don't trust them, especially hot-head talks-a-lot, his too violent... I'd trust Commander Lee more then him."
Aang grimaced but nodded. A spear suddenly came down between them and Ally and Aang separated quickly. "Silence! What were you talking about!" Lin Yi snarled.
"That's between Aang and me." Ally said coolly, "You are neither." The spear he was holding was lowered to her threateningly, Ally's glare sharpened. "It'd private." She said firmly.
"Ally…" Katara muttered warningly.
Ally looked at Katara's worried expression and relaxed her glare and flatly stared into Lin Yi's shadowed eyes. He surprisingly relented; he turned to the closest person to them, "Get them into shelter. They leave tomorrow morning."
Ally helped Sokka and Katara roll out their sleeping bags, before walking down to the river.
Ally placed a bowl in the water and filled it with the clear liquid; she gathered all the kindling in the area with a sweep of air bending, she took off her boots and put her feet in the water.
"What are you doing?" Asked a deep, demanding voice behind her, Ally jumped and stood up. Under the cloak of darkness Ally could see the man's hair was whitish gray, he had a strong build.
"Cleansing my wounds," Ally said, "Other wise they'll get infected."
The man was silent for a moment, before bowing to her and lighting the kindling she had gathered with a small burst of fire.
Ally bowed to him, "I appreciate your kindness." She smiled at him warmly. "I'm Ally."
"I am Jeong Jeong." He said sitting down crossed legged next to her and placing the water filled bowl over the fire.
Ally sat down next to him, she wondered how to approach this, and she decided to go with "My friend would greatly appreciate it if he could talk to you."
"Only a fool seeks his own destruction." Jeong Jeong said. "He does not wish to talk, he wishes to control fire."
Ally took off her orange shawl and yellow top so only her breast straps were on, shielding more personal parts of her body; she placed them on a dry patch of dirt with deliberate slowness. "He knows how destructive fire is," she said carefully. "Master Jeong Jeong, please give Aang one chance."
"No." he said stubbornly. "I do not want to hear another word on the matter."
Ally pressed her lips tightly together in a frown and began to inspect her healing wounds that she had suffered from the past three weeks, her stomach wound had healed well, but it need time for the pain to vanish, at least she had prevented it from being infected.
It was the gash June's whip had inflicted on her that worried her; three days ago it had a small amount of yellowish pus and she had a slight fever, she was able to get her hands on disinfectant and the next day it was gone along with her fever, but the infection could come back if she wasn't careful.
"Master Jeong Jeong," Ally said hesitantly, he looked at her expectantly. "At least let me tell you why we have come to you in such a hurry, before Aang has mastered the other elements."
"I know about Sozin's comet." He said gravely, and then took the bowl off the fire. "The fact remains that the Avatar is not ready to learn fire." He dumped a wet cloth in the water and hand it to Ally.
Ally took it and cleansed her old wounds before he took it from her and gave it a good rinse from the water, he started to help clean the healing gash on her back. "You might be the only fire master we'll come across who is against the fire lords plans." Ally tried.
"I acknowledge you're needed to help the Avatar master the elements but he has no discipline. To master the elements you must first master discipline." Jeong Jeong said. "Now pray tell how you got these wounds and scars inflicted on you?" Ally saw him looking at her shoulder, which was scarred badly by Fire Lord Sozin during the comet. Ally looked at her torso and arched to look at her back; it was littered with burns and scars from various battles.
Ally smiled tightly, and began to put herbs and minerals from her bag and into a bowl; she took out a smooth stone and began to crush the healing ingredients together while she talked, "Most of my burns are from Fire Lord Sozin during the comet when he attacked the air temples. The others are from various battles and mistakes. I've been through my fair share of fighting in this war." She sighed softly.
"Indeed," He murmured, Ally looked around as he looked at her scaly burn on her foot. "This is from lightning!" his eyes widened and he clenched his fist. "Who? How are you still here?" he asked.
"Sozin. And I frequently asked myself how I survived it. It didn't really hit me head on, and I think it only had been half a second of contact. That's the only explanation I can come up with." Ally poured a tiny bit of water in to the mix, and continued to mesh it together. "Jeong Jeong, please at least talk to him. He may only have mastered one element but his very mature when he understands the importance." Ally took the paste and rubbed onto her wounds, hissing a little as it stung, she'd never get use to that. "He knows what fire is capable of." She said solemnly.
Jeong Jeong was silent for a long while; Ally didn't dare say anymore as he took the paste from her and put it onto her back wounds. He placed the empty herb bowl into the warm water and washed it, Ally could tell his was thinking this through very carefully.
Ally placed the unused herbs into the bag along with the clean bowl; she dumped the warm water under a nearby sun-flower and got a little more water from the river and placed it carefully over the fire. She placed her boots back on after a quick blow dry for her feet. She got into a meditative pose and closed her eyes.
She stayed like that for a while until she could feel the paste harden, all the while she could also feel Jeong Jeong's gaze. Ally smiled at him then took the cloth and put it into the now shimmering water; his eyes widened as she ignored the heat and began to clean the hardened paste off.
That done she put her torso clothing back on and poured the remaining water on the already dying flames and onto the scorched ground. Its light disappeared and they were once again under the darkness.
"I will talk to him, then I will judge if he is ready for fire or not." Jeong Jeong said. "I will talk to him in the morning, exactly when the sun rises."
Ally bowed, "Thank you."
"Yes!" Aang shouted jumping high up into the air.
"Aang be serious please." Ally said with all the amount of sternness she could muster. "Fire is a dangerous element. You have to listen to what Master Jeong Jeong says. You could end up hurting someone if you don't." Aang calmed down, but a grin was still on his face. He saw her seriousness and his grin turned into a smile. "Seriously Aang, I told him that you're very mature when you understand the importance, don't make me out to be a liar. Think about what fire does."
Aang nodded and let out a calming breath, "Thanks Ally."
"Just talk to him, don't rush into the subject." Ally nodded in approval. "You're going to have to prove to him you can control your emotions, show him your responsible side."
"Control my emotions, be responsible, got it." Aang said nodding.
Ally looked at the sun starting to rise over the trees, "Good luck."
Aang walked out of the tent and stood before the shack, he walked in. Ally yawned; she and Aang had stayed up all night. She laid down and hoped Sokka had enough sense not to wake her up.
Cold water splashed over her, her eyes snapped open and she bolted upright. She glared up at Sokka, who was holding an empty bucket. "You better run fast," She said slowly standing up and drying herself with a quick use of air bending, "Because I'm going to throw you into the river."
Katara laughed at Ally's completely serious expression and the dawning horror on Sokka's. "You wouldn't." He said with his confident grin fading.
Ally's exspression never wavered as she stared at him flatly.
Sokka fought not to look away; Ally's stares were always loaded. He turned tail and ran, Ally counted slowly to five before rushing after him.
Aang was squatting on a flat stone in the river in front of Jeong Jeong's hut, the master fire bender instructing him. They looked up as Sokka raced past them, only to be pushed into the cold morning river by a lazy swoosh of air.
Sokka spluttered and coughed, breaking the surface, then attempting to stand up he slipped in the muddy water and fell again, head first.
Ally smiled at Aang and the Fire Master, who raised an eyebrow, "He dumped a bucket of cold water on me," Ally said defensively, "I thought I'd return the favour."
Aang grinned; his laughter heard all over camp but that was silenced however by Jeong Jeong's firm gaze.
Ally gave Aang the thumbs up and decided to brush up on some high air bending level techniques, she hadn't practised in a while.
Plus she needed her fans back… She found them with Snow-fire, much to her relief. She took out the box with advanced air bending scrolls that her fellow Air masters had given her.
Closing her eyes she could almost see an image in her minds eye what the last air benders could be doing at this moment.
Sighing and placing her fans in her belt she wondered over to a small secluded clearing a little way off from the camp, a small stream splashed soothingly in between the smooth stones and cascaded down a glossy cliff twice her size, velvety white mist swirled around the fall as the stream of shimmering water snaked into the trees with soft hisses. The rising sun flittered through the greenly gold foliage as Ally placed a scroll open on a stump and took a few paces back.
Ally memorized each fine flowing stroke of the illustration, the subtle flow of the hip, the spiralling twist of each palm, the delicate way the arms curved, the process the legs took while spinning. This move was definitely going to be difficult, the Double Air Ring.
Ally took a deep breath and slowly released it, calming her self easily with the gentle lullaby of the trickling stream… She carefully moved her right arm up and over her head, creating one carefully moving air ring; she moved her left arm up and looped another ring over her head, letting the rings lazily circulate around her, she bit her lip and closed her eyes, her minds eye showing the memorized moves and she carefully followed them.
Learning high level techniques was dangerous, especially if there were no older masters to help.
Ally snapped her eyes open and she pushed the rings away from her, spreading her feet apart in a two sided kick and pushed out with her arms. The lower ring zoomed outwards two feet off the ground while the upper ring rocket two meters higher.
Ally winced as the rings sliced the nearest trees cleanly, yeah maybe she could make the rings less lethal. She could almost imagine Monk Gyasto's frown if she used that in a plain fight she seemed to get in every third day. Maybe only in real life or death situations should she use this move.
Ally studied the scroll's Illustration carefully, trying to find the technique that made this move so lethal. There it was, the fierce way her hands and feet stayed straight in the final move, like an earth bender.
Ally frowned, maybe if she made her hands less rigid on that final move the rings wouldn't be like serrated knifes?
Ally grinned in triumph as the thick rings burst forth and did minimal damage, the most any one could get was a few nasty bruises.
Ally spent the rest of the morning practicing the non-lethal side of that move until she could even develop it into a shield on short notice.
She took pride that it only took her a few hours to master that move, most would be trying all day without success of mastering it.
Though she pretended not to notice, back a hundred years ago, most people at the temples called her an air bending protégée, a natural force that's unstoppable; A formidable opponent by foes.
Ally didn't think so, she knew a protégée when she saw one; and it wasn't her, it was Aang. Though, even she couldn't deny her formidability;
Ally shook her head slightly, "Why are people suddenly acting like I'm some major threat?" or a leader, she silently added.
"After the display you showed while fighting thirteen fire benders and a Master Air bender?" the dry reply came, "After your miraculous fight with a master fire bender during Sozin's comet? The fact that you have earned your Mastery in air bending at the age of twelve, from what that traitorous monk told me anyway." Ally leaned against the wall behind her, suddenly annoyed with her-self. "Yes you start to see the connections don't you?" The hand released her.
Ally pinched the bridge of her nose as she remembered how Commander Lee so easily listed a few reasons for her to be a noteworthy threat to the fire nation when they first met. She laughed at how clueless and naïve she had been back then, she had been so confused when her fellow air benders placed the responsibility of 'Head of Council' on her shoulders.
You're the youngest Head of Council in history, Tom's voice echoed in the wind. Ally wondered who the head was after she left; it might be either Tane or Damien. They seemed like the leader types, though she wouldn't be surprised if Kin took up the mantle. Jin, Lyra and Tom we're happy to go along with the flow type people, though they would all make good leaders too.
Ally looked up and noticed it was mid afternoon; sighing heavily she packed up everything and walked back to the camp site, idly wondering how Aang was doing in fire bending. Ally saw him sitting in front of Jeong Jeong's shack.
"Hey Ally," Katara smiled while bending water into loops.
"Hey, how's Aang doing?" Ally asked quietly so not to disturb Aang, who looked like he was meditating, she placed her stuff away and joining Katara next to the river.
"I'm not sure. He seemed frustrated earlier."
Ally frowned, that's new… "I thought he'd be well on the way of controlling fire by now." She whispered.
"He hasn't bended a single flame yet, all Jeong Jeong has him doing it breathing and feeling the sun."
Ally nodded and watched Katara move the water with easy, graceful loops. "You're getting really good," Ally said.
Katara beamed brightly, "Thanks Ally, that means a lot."
"You know, while I was creating an air move I used a few techniques from water benders, do you want to try them?" Ally asked.
Katara nodded, "I'd really appreciate learning any thing I can."
"Well, I can't remember precisely the movements of this move, but the idea is to create a quick wave of water." Ally said, moving into a stance. Katara mimicked her, "lower your back knee just a little, that way you have more force behind evading an attack." Katara complied, "Perfect. Now this move is close to Water bending but its tweaked so it's used to air bend, I'm not sure what could happen." Katara nodded.
Ally pulled her arms in and up and lowered them then pushed outward, a wave of solid air rushed over the water and dispersed after going thirty meters.
Katara did the same and Ally watched in stunned awe as her friend pulled a large amount of water to her freezing it, and pushed hard, the mass of ice rolled into a wave across the river and knocked down a tree flat.
"That was incredible!" Ally said wide eyed. "It would have lasted ten more meters had that tree not gotten in the way!"
Katara looked thrilled with such a complement. "What other moves are there that could work for water?"
"Well, I customized that move to take out multiple opponents instead of one, its a lot more wide spaced attack but its slower, I wonder…" Ally spread her feet just a little bit more apart, and then repeated this move, intent to put more power behind it. It reached the other side of the river easily, if not a little slowly.
Katara did this move too, easily creating a large line of rolling ice, but this one went a little shorter, Katara looked faintly disappointed and Ally was quick to reassure her. "That one was more in tuned to Air bending, and plus the extra Ice was bound to make it go a lesser distance like mine."
Katara threw a questioning gaze; Ally said she put all her effort into that last attempt and only half on the other. Katara nodded in understanding. "Let me look at your stance for that one." Ally said, thinking of the last water bending moves she saw from her time. "That's it," Ally smiled, "It's your arms and legs, there too far apart." Katara moved her arms in a little more and moved her legs shoulder length apart, she looked at Ally for reasoning, "In air bending we're use to dynamic circular air movements but Water benders are more centred and flowing water movements. Try it again but keep that in mind, and don't think about the way I do it, do it how it feels naturally to you, to do that close your eyes."
Ally watched as Katara closed her eyes and began to feel the water and let her arms and upper body do the movements, the result was nothing sort of spectacular. Katara took her silence as a bad thing and opened her eyes to see the line of forest near the other side of the river was all knocked down.
"You're going to become the greatest water bender in the world when you find a master." Ally grinned, finally coming out of her shock.
"I did it! I made fire!" Aang's voice said.
Ally looked around to see him holding a fire ball, it felt strange to see him holding a ball of fire with ease, when she had faced so many that could wield that element.
"That's great, Aang but be careful!" Katara said running up the side of the river until she was ten meters away from Aang.
Aang shot a fire stream into the sky; Ally began to really get nervous, "Aang please, fire's dangerous; be sensible."
The flame in his hand grew in size and Ally stepped forward instinctively alarmed, he began to retain control. "Now that's fire bending! I wonder how that juggler did it..."
"Aang seriously, Fire isn't like Air – DON'T!" Ally called as her eyes watched with growing horror as Aang made a circle around himself and pushed out, creating a fiery shockwave, Ally pushed forward but she was too late. Katara's cry of pain echoed through the camp. "Katara!" Ally shouted skidding down to her as Katara crumpled to her knees and shield her hands away.
"Katara!" Aang called, "I am so sorry, I didn't mean to –" Katara flinched and leaned into Ally for comfort.
"Katara?" Sokka came running, "What happened?" He turned to Aang, "What did you –"
Katara got up and ran, Ally followed quickly, after using air bending to suck a bag of herbs and a roll of bandages to her which were sitting by Snow-fire, she bounded through the trees.
Ally found Katara sitting by the river, crying. "Katara?" Ally said hesitantly, "Katara, let me help you."
Katara looked up at Ally with tear stricken tears, Ally crouched down next to her as she held up her hands, Ally gently took hold of one to get a better understanding of the damage. Suddenly her hand glowed blue and she pulled away with a hiss as a harsh burning sting erupted on her hand. Ally bit her lip as she looked at her now bleeding burnt hand.
She looked up at Katara wide eyes to see her looking at the hand Ally had touched with pained amazement; there weren't any marks on that hand, like it had never been burnt.
"Ow…" Ally said in surprise, looking at the uninjured hand on Katara and too her injured hand.
"Ally, are…" Katara began but Ally shook her head with a grimacing smile.
"In the water," Ally said placing her newly injured hand in the cold water, wincing. Katara followed suit and suddenly her hand glowed white, their eyes widened and Ally watched in frozen fascination as the white glow travelled through the water and latched onto her hand, the sting lessened.
Katara and Ally shared a glance after a brief stare at their uninjured hands, "We've gone from weird to freakish." They said together.
"You have healing abilities." Said Jeong Jeong from behind them and sat down next to Katara. "The great benders of the water tribe sometimes have this ability." He turned to Ally, "Though I don't know much about air benders, I have heard of rumours about pain purging. Taking pain away from others and bestowing it upon your self." Ally looked down, she had never met anyone with this ability; truthfully, the ability died five hundred years before she was even born. Her chi had to be messing up again. "I've always wished I were blessed like you," Jeong Jeong continued, "- free from this burning curse."
Ally blinked and looked at him, Katara said the exact thing that echoed her mind, "But, you're a great master. You have powers I'll never know."
"Water brings healing and life." Jeong Jeong said, "Air brings happiness and freedom. But fire brings only destruction and pain. It forces those of us burdened with its care to walk a razor's edge between humanity and savagery. Eventually, we are torn apart." Suddenly fire flashed out in front of them and hit the water explosively; Ally flipped upwards and pulled out her fans. "Go get your friends and flee!" Ally hesitated but Katara complied, "GO!" Ally tensed her body and hated herself for leaving him to deal with a fleet of fire bending soldiers.
Dragging Katara up and over her back, not caring at all about the healing gash that was slashed on her back, she bolted through the trees faster then the wind could. Katara clutched her arms around her neck tightly.
Ally put Katara down on the ground seconds later and helped Sokka packing Appa quickly, and then proceeded to quickly pack everything up on Snow-fire, hardly listening to Sokka and Katara talking as Aang ran to help Jeong Jeong.
"Ally will you calm down!" Sokka said looking a little scared as she angrily stuffed some cloths into a rucksack and secured it onto the saddle.
Ally forcefully calmed herself with a few deep breaths, "Sorry Sokka," Ally said, "I just hate running and leaving people to face fighting alone, it just doesn't feel right."
"Have a nice walk home!" said Aang's voice.
Ally saw him in the river. "Come on Aang!" Sokka shouted.
Ally lay down on Snow-fire's head as the Ermine-wolf soared into the air with Appa.