Man, almost lost track of when I last updated XD
Anyway, still looking for some scenario ideas, so if you have an idea, please share it with me!
With Haku running at full speed and Sati's bison, Daisy, carrying her, Takumi and a very fidgety Kiwi, they were able to backtrack to the village where Rai and Takumi had left the waterbending slaver in the hands of the local authorities within just over a day. They didn't waste any time in approaching the local police station. "We're looking for one of your prisoners: a waterbending slaver that was brought in about a week ago," Rai said to the officer.
"I'm afraid we had to let that prisoner go," the officer replied.
"What? Why?" Takumi cried, in shock.
"Insufficient evidence," he said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly as if such a thing was a common occurrence. "Now, if there isn't anything else, I have to get back to work."
"Pfft, 'insufficient evidence'. Like I haven't heard that one before," Rai scoffed, rolling her eyes as she walked away with Takumi and Sati in tow. "So much for that lead."
"What do we do now?" Sati asked.
"I don't know," Rai said.
"There must be something we can do, some way to find him!" Takumi exclaimed.
"I don't know!" Rai shouted furiously, punching a nearby metal wall and leaving a noticeable dent.
"Rai?" Sati asked in concern.
"What?"
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"Is that a serious question? Of course I'm not okay! We came all this way searching for this good for nothing scum - our only lead - and for what? To end up right back where we started?"
"Rai, I appreciate all that you've done, but…"
"Don't start that, Sati," Rai silenced the airbender. "I gave my word, and I intend to keep it. Then you can continue teaching me airbending or do whatever you want. I just don't know where to look."
"How about a little to the left?" All three sharply turned their heads to see a man standing at the entrance of an alleyway staring at them.
"It's you!" Takumi exclaimed, quickly recognizing the slaver he had convinced Rai to spare.
"You! Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you!" Rai stomped over to him angrily.
"Obviously not. I'm not omniscient," he remarked.
"Well, I see you haven't lost your charm," Takumi said.
"So he's the one we're looking for?" Sati asked.
"Hey toots, I'm standing right here," he said to Sati.
"Enough. You're a waterbender, right?" Rai asked.
"What? No 'hello'? No 'how're you doing'?"
Rai crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, showing she wasn't in the mood for his games. "I prefer to get right down to business."
"All right, all right. You're no fun," he said, holding up his hands in defeat. "How can I turn away someone so pretty that went to such trouble to find me? What do you need?"
"My… associate here was attacked by a bloodbender. He stripped her of her airbending and we need to find a way to restore it," Rai explained.
"Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I ain't no bloodbender. So I can't help you there."
"Great…" Rai grumbled under her breath.
"But, I might have some information that could lead you to one. I mean, that is if you want to go with the bloodbender. I seem to recall energybending being an alternative solution and you know, legal. But you'd need to find the Avatar for that," he said, grinning at Rai as he spoke. "And nobody knows who he… or she is," he said with a wink. Rai narrowed her eyes and subtly whipped out her blades. He noticed this and quickly held up his hands. "Now, now, slow your roll. I've got nothing to gain by outing you. And even if I wanted to, I would have already done it."
"How did you find out?" Rai asked.
"Oh, I just put two and two together. Nah, I actually overheard you saying something about her teaching you airbending," he said, gesturing to Sati. "And I seem to recall you being an earthbender or was it someone else who trapped me in a pile of rocks and almost smashed open my head with a boulder? In the future, you might want to be more careful about what you say out loud. But rest assured, my lips are sealed. I know you women like your secrets."
"Like I'd trust you," Rai remarked.
"Oh, I don't think you have much of a choice. Now, either you can kill me and be back to square zero or do me a favour, let me live and maybe I can point you in a more fruitful direction. Now the question is: what do you have to offer?"
"What do you want," Rai said rather than asked.
He stood in silence, resting his chin in his hand as he pondered. "Hmm, that is a nice lizard you have there."
Haku snarled at the man as Rai quickly interjected. "No, he's not for bargaining."
"Relax, I was only admiring his anatomy. You don't see a lot of eel hounds, especially tamed ones. A beast as quick as this one or even that air bison should make an excellent escort to Shu Jing."
"Shu Jing? That's in the Fire Nation, isn't it?" Takumi asked.
"That's an odd request," Sati commented.
"Yes... why do you want an escort there?" Rai asked.
"I've got a contact with some information waiting for me, personal information," he emphasized. "And my old group isn't exactly happy with me being arrested so I need to lay low for a while. A small town like that is the perfect place to disappear. I would have just taken one of the ferries that cross the sea to the Fire Nation, but I might run into someone. Now do we have a deal or should I go back to my shadows?"
"An escort, that's all you want?" Rai asked. She couldn't believe that a simple escort was all this slaver wanted. There had to be some ulterior motive for it, something he wasn't sharing.
"Ah-ah, without any restraints. You don't need to tie me up to get my cooperation this time. You don't believe me, do you?"
"I have little reason to trust the word of a slaver," she remarked.
"Then good luck learning energybending to restore your friend's powers," he said, casually turning and walking away.
"Wait!" Takumi exclaimed, prompting the slaver to stop, though he did not turn around "We'll do it!"
Rai stepped back in shock at Takumi's sudden outburst, but quickly regained her composure and grabbed Takumi by his elbow. "We need to talk," she whispered. "Don't go anywhere," she said to the slaver as she pulled Takumi aside. "Why do you keep sticking your neck out for this guy?"
"This isn't about me, Rai, it's about Sati. And if taking this guy to Shu Jing will get us one step closer to finding a solution then I'm willing to take the risk. Besides, it is on the way to the Fire Nation Capital. And even if he does cause trouble, you'll be with us," he smiled confidently.
Rai grumbled under her breath and muttered, "And what if I'm not always around Takumi? I swear if I wasn't around to bail you out, you'd get yourself killed."
"Probably," he remarked to her with a grin before heading back to the slaver and Sati. "We'll take you there, and in return, you help our friend."
The slaver stepped forward and got right into Takumi's face. Rai flinched at his sudden closeness to the boy and though she held herself back, she stayed ready in case the slaver tried anything. "And what guarantee do I have that you won't turn me in?" he asked.
Takumi stood his ground despite what seemed like the slaver's attempts to intimidate him. "You don't. You're just going to have to trust us, just as we are trusting you to hold up your end of the deal."
The slaver locked eyes directly with Takumi, who did not take his gaze away. Neither one blinked until finally, the slaver smiled and scoffed, giving Takumi an approving pat on his head. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, boy. You've got courage beyond your age and you've got quite the way with the ladies. I've never seen anyone calm a woman's rage like you," he said with an approving grin before turning to the rest of the group, "So, when do we leave?"
"The sooner the better," Rai remarked, climbing onto Haku's saddle.
"You can ride with me," Sati said, gesturing for him to climb up Daisy's leg to her saddle.
"I've always wanted to ride an air bison," he grinned, climbing up to the saddle as Sati climbed Daisy's head. "Oh and if we're going to be spending more time together, we should really get to know each other. My name's Duran. Don't worry, I already know your names: Bubbly, Kid and Broody," he chuckled to himself as he pointed to Sati, Takumi and Rai respectively.
The group traveled nonstop towards Shu Jing, crossing the Mo Ce Sea in the process and only stopped to make camp when they reached the shore. "Man, we made pretty good time. I guess it really pays to have an air bison," Duran said impressed, "I say we should reach the town by midday tomorrow!" All four sat around a fire, eating some of Sati's leftover stew as the sun set on the horizon. "So, what exactly happened to you, Bubbly?"
"Well," she began hesitantly, "I was just getting some firewood and this man attacked me. I-I couldn't move or do anything and he tapped me right on my forehead," she explained, tapping the exact spot on her forehead, shivering slightly as she recalled the incident. "The next thing I knew, I couldn't airbend anymore."
"Hm, yeah that's definitely bloodbending. If I actually knew how to do it, I'd reverse the damage for you, but bloodbending is exceedingly rare and difficult to master. Not to mention the fact that it's been outlawed since the time of Avatar Aang so not many people advertise that they know it. And I'm guessing Broody has no intention of learning bloodbending," he remarked, looking several feet away as Rai practiced her bending.
"Well, I didn't think much of it at first, but a market vendor offered her a waterbending manual and she flat out refused," Takumi said. "Come to think of it, she wouldn't even use it to heal an injury."
"Interesting… how's her firebending?" Duran asked, intrigued.
"Fine. She seems to prefer it and earth over anything else," replied Takumi.
"Has she ever waterbended at all?" Takumi shook his head.
"It's not uncommon for the Avatar to struggle learning an element. Usually, it's the one that contrasts the most with their personality. For Avatar Aang, it was earthbending and for Avatar Korra, it was airbending," Sati explained. "But I don't understand how waterbending would conflict with her…"
"I might have an idea," Duran said, setting his bowl down and making his way over to Rai.
"What do you want," she said sternly rather than asked, not even looking at him to acknowledge his presence.
"I hear you don't like to waterbend," he said, propping his hands on his hips.
"What of it?"
"I know I'm the last person you want to be lectured by, but you're not going to be a very effective Avatar if you don't learn how to waterbend."
"I don't need waterbending," Rai insisted firmly.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you're so afraid of it, given what you've had to endure at his hands."
"I'm not afraid!" she turned and yelled at him.
"I think you are. I've heard about what he's capable of; he's made you do things, hasn't he? Things no little girl should be made to do."
"You don't know anything! I'm not going to talk about this with you," she said, turning away from Duran.
"Fine, no more talk," Duran shrugged his shoulders. With Rai's back still turned on him, he silently drew water out from his pouch and waved it around his body before thrusting his arm forward and striking Rai in the back. The force of the blow knocked her off her feet and drenched her clothes. She growled under her breath like an angry beast and rose to her feet, glaring her bright green eyes at him. She stomped her foot on the ground, took a wide, low stance and raised both her arms, raising the earth towards him. Duran, however, easily side-stepped away and avoided the attack like an elegant dancer.
"Pah! Is that the best you can do, Avatar?" he taunted with a smile.
"Shut up!" she yelled furiously, throwing a fireball towards him. With little effort, he pulled water from nearby sources - puddles and some plants - to form a bubble of water, catching the fireball and dousing it instantly. "You're not here to lecture me," Rai said, crossing her arms defiantly.
"I've seen children bend water better than that," he continued taunting.
Rai narrowed her eyes angrily at him. "I'd shut your mouth if I were you. Keep talking and I might not be able to keep my end of the bargain in letting you live."
"Then your little friend will be powerless. The way I see it," casually leaning up against a tree, "You need me."
"Like I need you to teach me waterbending," she remarked, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
Duran simply gave her a fierce smile as he widened his stance and pulled some water from the nearby pond. His movements were slow, rhythmic, and almost hypnotic. She couldn't help but watch with a little fascination as he bent and twisted the water around his body. Then, all of a sudden, he lashed out towards her and a tiny water whip struck her across the cheek faster than she could dodge and defend. She yelped in shock at this sudden pain as she reached up and gently touched the spot where she was hit. There was no break on her skin and when she examined her fingertips, she saw no blood. She looked back at Duran with venom in her eyes. "What? Was that too fast for you? It's okay, I can do it again," he smirked, readying his water for another assault. Duran twirled the water around some more. Despite its gentle flow and movements, Rai was fully aware of the danger and took a solid stance in response. But as she moved her hands to bend, she felt another strike across her face as he lashes like lightning; another water whip striking its target.
"Ah!" she cried out, hissing in pain as she gently touched her other cheek. She couldn't believe it. How was he able to bypass her defences and strike her so easily?
In a commanding tone with a slight growl in his voice, Duran declared, "Come oooon, Avatar! Show me what you got!"
Rai narrowed her eyes as a serious smirk spread across her face. "You asked for it." Rai stomped her foot on the ground, bringing up boulders from the earth and proceeded to kick each one towards Duran one by one.
Duran took the first one in the chest, but then with the grace of a dancer, effortlessly flowed around the boulders like a stream of water. To Rai, however, it was different than watching Sati move. Duran wasn't jumping or being acrobatic. He was making constant forward progression toward her while spinning and ducking, staying light on his feet but also in a constant motion. What surprised Rai was that he was not bending as much as expected, instead just moving closer toward her. When she finally realized he had gotten so close to her despite her frontal assault on him, she quickly recoiled and struck him with a wide air blast. Duran was unable to avoid such a wide and forceful blast and was pushed right off his feet by the force of the air and landed roughly on his back.
He rolled to his feet with a low chuckle. "Switching up tactics, huh? Okay. This might just get entertaining." Duran enters a fighting stance, keeping his feet solidly planted as he pulls more water from around him, holding it close to his body and allowing it to flow around him like a flowing spirit dancing in the wind.
'Why isn't he attacking?' she thought furiously, truly puzzled by this. "Why aren't you attacking?! I thought we were fighting!" she yelled.
Duran smirked and sternly replied, "We are." Duran suddenly solidified the water into a sharpened icicle and with a speedy tornado kick, he sent the deadly spike hurling straight at her. Rai was quick though, and jumped to the side. If she hadn't, that frozen spear would have punctured her chest. Her brief recovery period only lasted a second though. When she turned back to face him, he was in almost the same position he started in; solid stance, water flowing around him, and still not advancing, instead holding a fierce gaze upon her.
Rai tried not to look impressed at how he's able to avoid everything she throws at him. Masking her curiosity as best as she could, she asked, "How are you doing that?"
"Don't you know the first thing about waterbending?" Duran broke his blob of water into multiple smaller ice shards, each of them sharply tipped. Rai prepared to dodge them, but she relaxed and looked at Duran in confusion when she realized the icicles were not coming at her. Instead, Duran held them steady like his gaze.
"Enlighten me."
"Gladly," he smiled, thrusting his arms forward, sending the storm of icicles towards her like a swarm of angry bees ready to sting. Rai didn't have much time to think and did the first thing that her instincts told her to do. She waved her arms, generating a firewall in front of her, melting the icicles back into water before they can strike her.
"Fire this time, huh?" Duran loosened up his stance, rolled his shoulders, and cracked his neck. "Nice trick with melting the ice, but you must realize that water douses fire." Duran jumped into a more aggressive stance, causing Rai to flinch and assume one of her own.
"Maybe, but there's no limit to the fire I can make!" Rai opened her mouth as a bright stream of fire emerged from her mouth.
Duran simply countered by raising a wall of water of his own, dousing the flames and protecting him. He pulled the water back and sent a stream towards Rai, who countered with her own earth wall. However, Duran easily moved the water around the earth wall, striking Rai on her side and knocking her to the ground. "It doesn't matter what you throw at me, Avatar. I'll find a way through your defences. That is the way of waterbending," he said confidently, taking a combat stance and bringing the water back to him. Rai grit her teeth and charged recklessly and angrily. Duran drew his water back and once she got close enough, unleashed a deluge of water onto her. Rai thrust her arm forward, trying to bend the water that was coming towards her, but it continued down its path and struck her. She fell back and sat on the ground, drenched and panting, beaten and humiliated. She did nothing except glare as the imposing figure approached and stood over her. She expected him to attack, finish her off and even prepared herself for the assault, but to her surprise, Duran extended a helping hand to her and with a surprisingly sincere expression, said, "Stand up. An Avatar does not belong on her knees."
However, Rai did not take his hand and instead said, "You could just kill me right now, get some reward or bonus from your friends. What's stopping you? Why are you so intent on helping me learn to waterbend?" she asked, cocking her eyebrow in confusion.
He extended his hand closer, silently offering to help her up. "Now where would the fun be in that?"
Rai gently knocked his hand away with the back of her hand and pushed herself up. "What other possible reason is there?"
Duran chuckled. "Why the sudden interest in my life story? I'm just a monster who is better off dead, right?" he asked, taking a few steps away from her while casually resting his hands on the back of his head.
"You've given me no other reason to think of you as anything else."
Duran moved over to a large boulder and took a seat on it. "Does the name Hui Ling mean anything to you?"
Rai shrugged. "Should it?"
"I suppose not. Although if it helps, she's a slave just like you were."
"So were many others. So are many others," she emphasized her second statement. "What's your point?"
"You hate waterbending because all it's ever been used for in your perspective is to hurt and control you," he said, suddenly changing topics causing Rai to furrow her eyebrows in confusion. "Waterbending isn't just about control - frankly, if you think about it all the elements are about control - but that's not my point. Waterbending is about adaptability, change, taking your opponent's strength and turning it against them. It's not like earth or firebending, which are fuelled by strength and aggression. Waterbending is more defensive and fluid. I could show you, if you'd like," he offered sincerely.
Rai cocked her eyebrow at Duran in a mixture of confusion and suspicion. "Why would you want to help me? And why, for that matter, would I take help from a slaver?"
"Well, you already are taking help from a slaver with this deal. But I wasn't always a slaver, you know," he began. Duran's voice suddenly became soft with a light serious tone, but nothing like before when he was so charismatically bold. He almost sounded almost… sincere. Rai was puzzled by the sudden change, but kept her guard up. "Before, I was but a humble fisherman. And I'm sure you're wondering, how'd a charismatic guy like me go from humble fisherman to ruthless slaver?" As he spoke, Duran pulled out a small photograph from inside his jacket and handed it to Rai.
"Who's this?" she asked, looking at a younger Duran sitting with a young woman and little girl in the photo.
"My sister and her kid, a little firecracker this one: Hui lived in a small town in the mountains. I was on my way to visit them one day when I discovered the entire village burned to the ground, bodies everywhere," Duran recounted, the tone of his voice suddenly dropping from charismatic to remorseful. "I found my sister's body, but Hui was nowhere to be found. You hear stories about towns disappearing overnight and children going missing. Most people just think it's malevolent spirits at work, a convenient excuse slavers use to cover their tracks. Nobody ever thinks it'll happen to them or someone they know until it does. That's how I knew she was taken by slavers. It took me months to track down the slave trade. I joined up under the pretence that I was desperate for work, no matter what it was and they didn't think much of it. I knew how to keep my head down and be patient. You learn that sort of thing as a fisherman: biding your time until you get the catch you've been waiting for. I know joining up with them wasn't the right way to go about it and I've had to do a lot of bad things since. She might even be horrified with me, but it was only option I had to find her. She'd be about the kid's age now," Duran said, casting his gaze towards Takumi for a brief moment.
"And what does this have to do with you teaching me waterbending?" Rai asked, handing Duran back the photo.
"I finally managed to track Hui's trail. She had been sold to a bandit leader by the name of Goro." Rai gasped at the mention of his name, which did not go unnoticed by Duran. "But, from what I heard, one of his slave went crazy and started a riot. The bandits ran off and the slaves got away. I managed to track down one of those bandits and get him drunk enough to loosen those lips, and he let slip that this slave was undoubtedly the Avatar. I haven't been able to track Hui down since, but I at least know that she's not in the hands of slavers or bandits anymore… and that's thanks to you. That's why I'm heading to Shu Jing. My contact there has a lead on where I might be able to find Hui. She wouldn't have had the fighting chance she did without you. Please, let me repay you." Rai said nothing as she stepped to the side. Her mind was reeling at this revelation. She had never thought of slavers as nothing more than heartless and soulless monsters that would all eventually meet the end of her blades, but here standing before her was a slaver with noble intentions? She could barely process the paradox! Her mind instantly went to the conclusion that he was lying, that this was all some elaborate, falsified story. But what would be the point of that? Why make up a story like that? "You don't have to believe me, but that is my truth."
She didn't have to say anything for Duran to know she was at the very least, entertaining his offer. Regardless of what her answer would be, he stepped forward and took a stance, pulling a ball of water from a nearby puddle and holding it the air to demonstrate to her the form. Duran held his position, giving Rai time to mimic it, however as she tried to lift the water out from another puddle, her hold on it broke within seconds and the water splashed back onto the ground. Rai growled in frustration and shut her eyes in an effort to focus. She tried again and again, but each time she failed to lift the water completely out of the puddle.
"Water is the element of change, of adaptability. The way each bender moves is unique. Don't try to block out the trauma. Instead, focus on it. Turn that pain into your strength."
Rai's eyes burst open, flashing white for a split second, as she instantly recalled the painful memories of a water whip striking her back over and over again, the feeling of drowning, water being forced at her face and depriving her of air and finally, the feeling of helplessness when she couldn't control her own body. She stepped forward and with a rage-filled battlecry, drew water from both the puddle and Duran's bubble of water to her and sliced through a thick tree trunk. Rai stared in amazement as the tree slide to the ground and fell with a loud boom. She was pulled out of her deep thoughts by the sound of Duran clapping behind her.
"Impressive. You're a natural, Broody," Duran complimented with a light applause. "You don't usually see such aggression fuelled waterbending, but if it works for you, that's all that matters."
"What else can you show me?" Rai asked.
"Well, as promised, here's my end of the bargain," Duran said, handing a folded piece of paper to Rai as they stood just in front of the entrance to the town of Shu Jing. She unfolded it, revealing a large map of the world with various points marked with Xs.
"What is this?" she asked.
"That is a map marking all the known locations of bandit cells and slaver hideouts. Red is bandits, black is slavers, green is land and the blue is water. It was always my intention to give this information to the authorities once I found my niece, but you and I both know just how ineffective they can be with this sort of thing," he said as Rai nodded in agreement while Takumi and Sati only exchanged confused looks at that last statement. "Just keep in mind that some groups may have moved by now, but most of the information should be accurate. I'm betting you'll be able to track down a bloodbender in one of those locations. And who knows, you might even run into the Blue Spirit!" he joked.
"Thank you for your help," Takumi smiled.
"You take care kid," Duran chuckled. "And you work on your waterbending, Broody." Rai said nothing, instead only giving him a curt nod. With that, Duran disappeared into an alleyway and out of sight.
"So, where do we go now?" Sati asked.
Rai pulled out the map Duran had given her and pointed to the red X closest to Shu Jing. "We'll head south. That's the closest bandit cell, so we'll start there."
Originally, the plan was Duran to restore Sati's bending. But I didn't like the idea of that problem being solved literally in one chapter since the problem began. Know what I mean?
Anyway, another thanks to my buddy Powershade117 for his help on the chapter.
Next chapter: Rai storms a bandit fort for clues in search of a bloodbender, but encounters a mythic spirit that is anything but.