Okay, here's another chapter. Don't really know what to say on it, other than the astral newt thing will be explained sometime later. Maybe in a side chapter.

Either way, read and review!

Witching Hour

I woke up in the dead of night, darkness shrouding me, with an unnatural chill. The cabin was never this cold at night. I sat up in my hammock and pulled my fur blanket tighter around myself.

"Os?" I asked groggily, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dim. "Hey, Os. You awake?"

There was a long yawn and a crash as something fell to the ground. "Ugh. Now I am." The talking otter answered.

"Hey. You leave the door open or some-" I caught sight of the moonlight streaming through the open porthole above Naomi's empty bed. I whirled around to see that Ren's loft was empty as well. "Where are the girls." I demanded.

"What?" I could hear Oswald shoot to his feet.

"NEWT!" I yelled.

The astral entity swirled into my sight, nearly completely camouflaged by the night if she hadn't been glowing a bright shade of Panic Yellow. She trilled and chirped, frantic and confused.

"What do you mean you don't know where they went?" I asked, panic rising in my chest almost as vibrant as Newt.

She turned red and growled, trilling loudly.

"So they were suddenly on deck, then you lost them?" I asked, looking back to the porthole and immediately understanding how they bypassed Newt's vision. "Goddammit, Ren. Sometimes you're too smart for your own fucking good."

I leapt out of bed, which was not graceful in the least considering how tangled one can get their foot in a hammock. I grabbed my clothes and shoes, hurriedly pulling them onto my body, and stumbled out the door.

"Os, wait here. If they come back, tie them to the mast." I ordered. "Newt, you're with me."

She trilled and raced ahead of me.

"Where are you going?" Oswald called. "Should I call Lin?"

"The Pro-bending arena! And wait two hours before calling Lin." I ordered over my shoulder. "If we're not back by then, panic!"

"I already am!"

Ren and Naomi laughed as Bolin stuck his chopstick into his nose and pretended to be a tiger walrus. Neither party could remember when they had laughed so much.

"Mister Bo, you're funny." Naomi giggled.

"Thank you, Naomi." He smiled. "I try."

"This is really good." Ren said through a mouthful of Water Tribe noodles. "Almost better than Ink's seafood stew."

"Ink?" Bolin asked, taking the chopsticks out of his nostrils. "You call your mom by her first name?"

"Ink's not our mom." Naomi said with a confused expression, standing on the chair so that she could eat. "She's our captain."

"We live on her boat with her." Ren said. "We should be getting home soon before she starts panicking."

"I'll walk you." Bolin said, slurping up a mouthful of noodles. "The streets aren't safe at night. Especially for two little girls."

"Thank you, Mister Bolin." Ren bowed her head.

"Don't mention it." Bo smiled. "Food always tastes better with company."

"You sure got that right!" Naomi said, guzzling down her noodles hastily. "I like Water Tribe food!"

Ren laughed at her sister. "We should ask Ink to make some. She should know how."

"Well, eat up. We gotta get you back to bed soon." Bolin said.

"Yes, sir." They replied, slurping up their noodles.

When they finished eating, Bolin paid the bill and the three of them walked out into the cool night air. Naomi shivered and Ren wrapped her arms around her shoulders to warm her, a tiny puff of fire escaping her lips.

"You're a firebender?" Bolin asked.

"Yep. Naomi's an earthbender." She smiled. "Isn't your brother a firebender?"

"Yep." Bolin agreed. "Joined the police force a few months ago."

"He's not a Fire Ferret anymore?" Naomi asked.

"Neither is Korra." Bolin shrugged, trying not to show how saddened he was by the fact that his teammates were no longer his teammates. And that thought brought up the painful fact that his brother was dating his dream girl. But he couldn't really hate them for breaking his heart, they were perfect and happy together. "As long as they're happy, I'm happy."

"Who's happy?" Naomi asked. "Avatar Korra? We met her the other day. She came to pick up the guy we hit with our boat."

"What?" Bolin chuckled.

"Yeah, now that I remember, that guy Ink said she was dating was named Mako, too." Ren said, rubbing her chin in thought.

"I was hit by a boat a few days ago." Bolin said, suddenly stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. "Could you be the guys that hit me?"

"Sorry." They shrugged.

"Cap'n Ink did say you came out of nowhere." Naomi laughed.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Ren asked.

"Nope. Just a sore back, but relatively okay." He smirked.

A Satomobile unexpectedly screeched to a stop next to them, a pair of unfamiliar men driving. The driver got out, wearing Agni Kai colors, his buddy walking around, dressed in Crimson Tide clothes.

Triads. Bolin thought, pushing the girls gently behind him.

"What's shaking?" The firebender asked, smirking.

"We're just heading home for dinner. Our parents are expecting us." Bolin smiled nervously.

"Really now?" The firebender asked, his voice sickly sweet. "Seems me and buddy here got a little lost on our way home, too. Give you a lift?"

"It's not far." Bolin said, the girls pressing themselves closer to him.

"Then would you mind giving us directions, pal?" The firebender asked, annoyance barely detectable in his tone.

"Sure." Bolin answered, still uneasy. "Where do you need to go?"

"I got this map here." The waterbender said, waving a piece of paper in the air. "Could you point out where we are?"

Bolin hesitantly walked over, the girls huddled together, rooted to the spot in anxiety. He smoothed the map over the hood of the Satomobile and looked it over.

"We're right-"

"Mister-"

Everything happened too fast. Bolin felt a cloth go over his mouth, breathed in something pungent, and the arms of the Triads wrap around his torso and lock, forcing him to breath more of the awful smelling gas. He watched in horror as the girls tried to fight back, but were easily over taken and subdued.

Then his head felt light and his body heavy. The last thing he remembered was the map racing dangerously for his face. Or was that him?

I ran inside the pro-bending arena and found the ticket booth. The man inside was just closing shop when I caught him.

"Hey, you see two little girls around here?" I asked frantically. "One with really short hair and the other just short? They're about this tall, black hair. They'd be together."

"Ain't see no kids come in, miss." The man sleepily replied.

"Is the match still going on?"

"Ended two hours ago, miss." The ticket man answered. "All the benders left and the families went home. Might be a couple of fans waiting inside, though."

"Thank you." I bowed hastily. Two hours? They should have been home if it ended two hours ago.

I sprinted deeper into the building, Newt flying next to my ear, until I found a few girls idling around a locker room door. They were pretty dressed up for a match and a few had signed pro-bender uniform shirts on. Those must be the fans. I briskly walked over.

"Um, hey, any of you girls seen two little kids? About this tall?" I gestured to my hip for reference. "One's got really short hair, the other probably not wearing any shoes?"

"Oh! I think I've seen 'em." One girl said, raising her hand.

"Really?" I asked, relief spreading through my veins.

"Yeah. The littlest had Bolin sign something." She said. "A leaflet?"

"That's them!" I cried, overjoyed. "Did you see where they went?"

"Yeah, Bolin took them out to dinner." Another snorted. "Lucky."

"And where would that be?" I asked. "Does this Bolin guy have any regular places?"

"I always see him down at Narook's." The first girl answered. "He loves the noodles there."

"Where's that?" I asked.

"It's down Arnook Alley." The second girl said. "Bottom floor, green sliding door. Can't miss it."

"Thank you very much." I bowed at the waist deeply, then turned back toward the entrance and ran.

Newt trilled nervously next to me.

"Yeah, I know." I said, panting. "I hope they're alright, too."

At Narook's Seaweed Noodlery, green sliding door just like the fangirl had said, I questioned the bartender at the back if he'd seen the guy Ren and Naomi left with.

"You just missed him. He left about a half an hour ago." He replied, cleaning a glass. "Can I get you anything?"

"No thank you." I said, feeling icy fear creep up my spine.

I bowed my head and left, standing in front of the restaurant door with no idea where to look next. Newt trilled softly next to me.

"Is there any possible way you can do an aura trace on them?" I asked her. "I know it's bee a while since they left and this is a pretty busy place."

She turned orange with pride and nuzzled my hand open. I had only done an aura trace once in my life, when I had lost my way in the city and needed to get back to Lin's apartment. I closed my eyes and concentrated, rubbing the fingers of my other hand against Newt's head to form a link.

I felt myself entire the energy world and opened my eyes, watching as colored wisps of past customers walk straight through me to get into Narook's.

"Newt, we need to fast forward through all this." I said, my voice wispily echoing against the vast plane.

She trilled, irritated, but the visions of past customers sped up until eventually…

"Stop, stop." I cried, the wisps of Naomi (glowing a dark green) and Ren (a vibrant red) coming into view, accompanied with a young man with eyebrows like mammoth caterpillars (his aura was a light shade of green). "There! Lock onto them!"

She chirped, annoyed.

"Right, right. Only one." I nodded. "Tag Ren. She'll be with Naomi no matter what."

Newt's eyes opened for the first time since the start of our trace, the entirety of each orb glowing golden as she traced the energy of Ren. A tiny speck of gold forming in her crimson aura.

"Trace complete." I sighed, blinking back into the real world. I always saw doubles after coming out of the energy world.

Newt spiraled into the air and chirped excitedly, then flew down the street toward Ren. I followed, keeping pace with my astral newt.