Avatar: The Last Airbender

The Path of the Ronin

Chapter 3: The Guild of Ronin

"The Guild of Ronin? What sort of guild is that?" asked Tsuriai.

"The Guild of Ronin consists of benders who have two elemental abilities," said Alera. "There aren't very many of us; at least, not many that wanted to join."

Tsuriai felt skeptical. How could it be possible that he could have just stumbled upon a guild of people like himself? "What two abilities do you have?"

Alera pulled up some sand from the beach about 500 feet away from them and swirled it around her hands. "With sandbending, it's a little more complicated. A long time ago, a group of airbenders and earthbenders decided that they wanted to intermingle. After a couple of years, they realized that their kids seemed to have weak airbending and earthbending abilities. So when they came of age—that time being 16 years old—their parents left them all to each other, and decided that intermingling wasn't a good idea.

"So the sandbenders either had to come live with their father or their mother. At first, they were hurt, but amongst them was a great leader, my great-great-great grandfather, Atiko. He decided that either way, they would not be taught by the other parent, meaning they would grow up imbalanced in their learning of that parent's bending ability. So, he decided to lead them away from both earthbenders and airbenders alike, into the desert. It was there that they learned their sandbending ability. If you want to learn the history of where they learned it, you'll have to go into the desert. But perhaps you should come with another sandbender, as they aren't very nice to strangers.

"But what I do know is that sandbenders move sand or dirt using a technique derived from earth and air bending. It's unique; you see, only the Avatar or sandbenders can actually create sandstorms. Sandbenders are excellent at moving sand. One sandbender can turn a sand dune into a valley in a matter of minutes. But we have gotten a few traits from both air and earth bending. For example, we can move very fast on something similar to the air scooter, but it kicks up a ton of dust. That's what you saw when I was coming towards you, and it's simply called (brace yourself) a sand scooter."

Tsuriai chuckled. Then he asked, "So, are you unable to airbend or earthbend?"

"No," she replied, "We can still airbend and earthbend, it's just really weak. So we find it easier to just sandbend. So, you're a Pyro?"

"I'm a what?" Tsuriai asked, confused.

"A Pyro! It means you're a water and fire bender. We don't have one in our guild any more. Have you never heard of others like yourself?"

Tsuriai pondered. He had hoped in the back of his mind that there was somebody who could teach him, but he had accepted that he would probably have to learn on his own, and that didn't really bother him.

"No, I've never actually heard of any others," Tsuriai replied. "So, tell me about this guild. Do you have a purpose?"

"Again, we are the Guild of Ronin. I happen to be the leader. Why don't you come inside so I can introduce you?"

"Um…okay," Tsuriai consented, reluctantly.

Alera hesitated. "Have you learned to jump yet?"

Tsuriai snorted. "I think that everybody learned how to jump when they were very young."

She glared at him. "I'll take that as a no…well, if you want to try, I've seen it done before. Basically, as a Pyro, you can shoot yourself long distances with one of your concussion blasts. But you have to be careful, because you can burn yourself a little if you're not careful."

A little? Tsuriai thought. He couldn't see how launching oneself into the air hundreds of feet could possibly be safe or sane.

She concentrated for a second and proclaimed, "That's right! You have to create a fireball underneath you with a very small amount of water. Why don't you try a small jump first? Don't worry, it shouldn't hurt you."

Tsuriai laughed in spite of himself. Well, he was looking for entertainment, but he didn't realize it would have to be at his expense.

So, reluctantly, putting down his stuff, Tsuriai timed himself to create a small fireball and a tiny squirt of water right under him.

He launched himself about ten feet into the air, and, with a latent instinct, threw both hands in front of him right before he landed; creating an invisible pillow that broke his fall, and he landed, comfortably, on his feet.

"Hey, that wasn't so hard!" He exclaimed, excitedly. "But what was that at the end?"

"I'm not quite sure," she said. "When Jet did it, he always did the same thing. Landed as if he had jumped two feet into the air, when really he had jumped from one mountain range to another. That was before he gave it all up. Poor guy…"

"He jumped a mountain range?!?!" Tsuriai was beginning to like the sound of this. Perhaps he would be able to get from place to place faster if he wanted to!

But where had he heard that name before…Jet…well; anyway he decided that he would try a bigger jump.

Tsuriai smiled and asked, "Where exactly is your guild?" He was ready to try it out.

(On a side note, the mention of Jet is not coincidental. Jet is, at least in my account, a Pyro as well. He forsook his abilities when his parents were killed by fire nation. He forsook his firebending ability for obvious reasons and his waterbending because it reminded him of his parents. His dad was a waterbender, and his mother was a firebender. When they died, he forsook his bending—mainly firebending—as evil and created his band of, well, robbers. And that is how we know him today.)