To the City of the Fire Lord.
Tec hated long journeys. She hated doing it all the heard way. If it wasn't for her two human accomplishes, she would have just flown the whole way. But no, that would have been so unfair on Katara and Ai. She let out an irritated huff and continues to strop behind the other two.
"Ah, will you stop with the silly huffing and puffing already, Tec, it's driving us mad!" Snapped Ai over her shoulder.
"I wouldn't be stropping if I was aloud to fly." She mumbled back.
"Well don't blame me! I, personally, would have landed us closer to the city, saved us days walking. But no we 'Wouldn't have been aloud to'. Stupid woman." She growled
"Stop fighting, you two!" ordered Katara. She prayed that they wouldn't argue the whole way. "Really, you're worse than my brother at times!" Both older women muttered a weak apology to her and continued to walk in silence.
By the third day of trekking the woodland area, half way through the journey, they found themselves a neat place to stay.
"Wo! It's a pool! The water looks lovely!" Cries Tec with a ridicules grin. Ai was a little more thoughtful.
"Hmm, it looks deep." Deducted Ai. "Remember, girls, this is…" A sudden blur of pink and dust shot past her and ran to the water.
"Cannonball!" Cried Tec as she jumped into the deep water.
"Man. Territory." She groaned and rolled her white eyes. She then tugged off her own clothes and strode into the deep pool. "Coming Katara?" She then followed in the Whych's lead and dove into the clear water. Tec suddenly ducked deep under the water and came up a few moments later.
"It is really deep. Care to see how deep Ai?" She shouted over the sound of water. Ai was one of the best divers on Moilah, being that she can dive right beneath the whirlpools. Ai nodded and dove down beneath the wave-less surface. It steadily grew darker and darker, yet she still couldn't see the bottom of the pit. She was about to give up and go back up when she saw a pair of glowing red eyes.
"What's taking Ai so long?" Tec thought out loud. "It can't be that deep." Both of them were longing in the shallower water, propping their heads above the water on their elbows. Suddenly Ai popped up with such force that she half leaped out of the water. She waved her arms around and tried to shout something to them, but they couldn't hear. She swam closer as fast as she could; her arms were kicking the water up behind her and her arms powered in a circular motion. When she was closer she started to shout again.
"Water Serpent! Water Serpent!" Blood was trickling from her nose. She had obviously emerged from the depths too fast. Suddenly they saw what all of the commotion was all about. The huge aqua marine head of a sea dragon burst out of the water and was followed by a grand amount of the creature thin but huge body. It roared at them and dove at Ai. She avoided it deathly grasp. Narrowly. She began to swim again as Katara and Tec scrabbled out of the water. All three girls were soon out of the serpent's element but not its reach. It stuck again and caught Katara's slender leg. With a flick, it lifted its catch into the air. "Katara!" Ai dove at her hip bag and pulled a pair of small round things made of wood. She looped the loose string attached around her middle fingers and readied her attack. With a flick of her had, she launched the yo-yo at the beast. It hit its chin. The monster roared and dropped Katara to the earth. When the creature attacked her, Ai flicked out both yo-yo's. It thumped into the bridge of the creature's nose. The Sea Serpent roared in pain and vanished into the deep pool. Ai's attention then switched to Katara. She ran to the side of the waterbender and looked over her quickly. Her leg, the one that the beast had caught her with, was bleeding a lot. Ai pulled from her bag a rag of fabric and a vial of water. She tapped Katara awake and made her sit up. She soaked the cloth in the water and pressed it against the gash. Tec held her up whist Ai whispered to Katara. "Come on, Katara. Heal yourself. Heal!" The greyed rag began to glow blue as the water bender used her healing abilities. Ai pulled the blood stained rag away and folded it back into her bag. Katara's wound was completely healed.
Some time later, the girls were walking again. Fully clothed and contentedly quite.
"Ai? How did you know that I am a healer?" Katara tipped her brown haired head to the side as she asked her. After a moment of thought Ai just shrugged.
"It's my job to know this kind of stuff. Like I have been trained in how to recognise an Avatar and a bender and even a future empress." She replied flatly. Her ivory eyes stayed dead focused on the straight path ahead. The heavens above them suddenly boomed with thunder and rain began to fall from the black clouds. Ai briefly stopped and pulled two identical, black capes from her back pack. She handed one to Katara and tied the other about her neck. She didn't bother to pull the loose hood up, so the rain flattened her hair. Tec used her own wings as a barrier to the rain, opening them over her head. The three of them then continued to walk in a hurried silence, try to get to any form of shelter. Shelter that just so happened to be a little earth village swarmed be Fire Nation solder still. They hid the best they could in a burned down house until the rain passed over. It didn't stop until the early hours of the next morning.
When they awoke, the harsh sunlight was accompanied by an unpleasant sight. A dozen or so Fire Nation solders, holding a wanted sign with Katara's face on it.
"Hand over the water girl and no one will get hurt." Ordered the oldest of the lot. Clearly the leader. Au jumped to her feet, her cape still covering her and her pack, and faced the men in a battle stance, yo-yo's still an hand.
"Says you" She barked pushing herself into his face. He repeated hi order with more malice in his deep voice. "Never! I wont let you take her" She flicked out the yo-yo and it his him on the bridge of his nose, knocking him out instantly. Katara, following in Ai's lead, used the water left over in the grass to attack the solders. She pulled a whip from the grass and stiked swiftly at on of the men. He was caught off guard and fell down into oblivion. Tec was not much of a fighter, but she did have three things to her advantage: Flight, which she uses to lift one of the solders away from the rest, instinct, like a bird of prey she drops the man down from a great height, and her cubi powers. She looks the next man dead in his brown eyes and lulls him into a sweet slumber. Ai, in the meantime, had axed through three of the enemies. Her skilled yo-yo's were too fast of weapon for them to acknowledge that they were about to be struck. When one of her opponents catch her off guard, stepping up from behind, he strikes her with a blast of fire in the small of her back. She cried out in anguish and dropped to her knees. Out of her hip-sack she pulls a handful of green-grey powder and blew it out at him. Foolishly he beathed in the powder potion and collapsed in a pile. She then gets up and sorted herself out. The fight was over. "Come on, girls, we best not stay too long, they wake soon enough." With that as a simple warning, the trio ran on. Tec knew that after a few more days of travel, they would reach the heart of the Fire Nation, and the Fire Lord that comes with it.
A/N: Well, bit interesting that one, wasn't it? Don't worry, zutara fans, the beloved pairing will becoming soon
Next chapter: The Trouble With Power