Hey everybody, I've been working on this story for a while now and been publishing it on reddit. I've decided to start cross posting it here, to help reach a wider audience. I'll be posting the 6 chapters I've written so far over the next few days/weeks. I welcome any and all feedback.

Chapter 3 - The Shrine

"So, going on the run like this must have been pretty rough." This was the thought Kunchen used to break the almost day long silence the two benders had shared on the road. They'd driven well into the night after departing Zaofu, stopping close to midnight to sleep. They woke early in the morning, ate some of the packed food, and got back on their way. During this time, the two had shared few words. In fact, Kunchen had been the only one really saying anything, Yuan had mostly been communicating in affirmative or negative grunts. Finally by late morning, the silence had completely worn through Kunchen, and he decided to take this stab at friendly conversation.

"Yeah," replied Yuan, clearly not wanting to participate. During his time in Zaofu and on the road, he'd begun to get tired of Kunchen and all of his questions. His situation had put him in a bad enough mood as is, and this wasn't helping.

"Well, I mean I couldn't imagine being in your situation. When did you first figure out you were, you know, the Avatar?" Kunchen wasn't ready to give up that easy.

"I dunno, I was pretty young." If Kunchen wouldn't give any ground then Yuan wouldn't either.

"It had to have been stressful, hiding it for so long." Still trying.

"Wasn't as hard as you might think, people weren't really looking for it."

"Still though, it must have been a little scary. You obviously know how some types of people might react." Absolutely relentless.

"Some types?" Yuan's anger was switching from the conversations existence, to the content of the conversation.

"You know, people who are more religious, or the anti- Avatar crowd, or another one of those types of groups that blindly reacts with hate to something, they might not fully understand."

"You mean people that lived outside of Zaofu, and actually had to deal with the chaos that happened when the Earth Empire split?"

"I didn't mean it like that," Kunchen was on the defensive now. "I just meant, you know … certain people … not in like a mean-spirited way, just a …"

"I know what you meant." Yuan knew the poor airbender probably didn't mean anything bad or harmful, but it was definitely coming out that way.

"I'm sorry," Kunchen apologized.

"..."

"I just figured you know if we're going to be traveling together …"

Yuan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

It was a later in the afternoon when the two reached a small, empty looking town. They'd both taken notice of the low gas light flashing, and had found this town on the map only slightly out of their way. Kunchen had tried to use this as a conversation starter, but Yuan was quick to shut it down. They pulled into gas station, but when they went to try and pay, they found a locked door and closed sign.

"Why're they closed this early? It's still a few hours til dusk!" Kunchen was clearly frustrated by this inconvenience, and to be honest Yuan shared the feeling. Yuan cupped his chin and tried to think of why it would be like this, when suddenly it hit him.

"The owners probably at the local shrine," Kunchen gave a puzzled look, but Yuan was busy peering inside the shop looking at the clock. "Yeah the service should be starting in about a half an hour or so."

"So we have to wait until it gets out?" questioned Kunchen, slightly glad to be having a non-hostile conversation.

"Probably, but judging by how things looked when we drove in everywhere else in town is probably closed too. Wanna just head to the service and wait it out there?" As much as Yuan loathed the church, it's not like they had anything better to do, and it would force Kunchen to be quiet for an hour.

"That sounds great! I've never actually been to a Spiritual Shrine!"

"Oh, you are in for a treat." And with that the two walked to the Shrine a few blocks away, where sure enough, they saw most of the towns citizens filing in. The two made their way through the mob's of people talking about the weeks happenings, and how excited they were for this that and the other. Eventually the pair found an open space in the mid-section of the pews. After a few more minutes, everyone had found their way to a seat and the preacher of this town had entered from the back and taken his place at the center of his congregation. He gave a quick opening prayer to all spirits finishing with the phrase "Praise be."

"Praise be," repeated everyone, with the exception of Kunchen.

"Praise be," he awkwardly tried to catch up, eliciting an eye roll from Yuan.

The preacher continued with a series of more prayers, Yuan soon remembering just how boring these services were, and Kunchen was slowly catching on. Soon the preacher made a sweeping gesture and everyone, again with the exception of Kunchen, went into a kneeling position. Kunchen looked around dumbly as everyone did this until Yuan whispered, "Kneel, ya idiot!" out of the corner of his mouth. Once everyone was in the proper position the preacher began on his sermon, the topic being the sadly all too frequent sinfulness of the Avatar.

"We've been blessed these past 16 years to have a world rid of the Avatar. For so many centuries we were fooled into believing that they would bring us peace and connection to the spirits. When Avatar Korra connected the two worlds, she unknowingly brought her own downfall, showing the world that not only was she an unnecessary part of a bygone era, but soon after she revealed her own sinful ways, both in her public and private lives. 16 years after she found peace, we are still dealing with the damage she left this world in, and worse we live in fear that her successor may soon make their presence known. I come before you today to help put your minds at ease. We are all blessed by the spirit's presence and know the righteous path we must walk, avoiding this false shepard. It is with this blessing and faith that we will not be lead astray by them, not be be seduced by their false promises, and not fall to their dark and sinful powers!"

Yuan grew stiffer and stiffer as the speech continued, eventually clasping his hands together so tightly, a vein began to bulge on his bicep. Kunchen took notice and quietly tried to signal that they might want to leave with a quick head motion towards the door, but Yuan brushed it off, and took a deep breath to calm himself. He'd suffered through these before, and he wasn't going to wimp out now.

The service did come to an end, eventually. Yuan and Kunchen found themselves amongst the throngs of townsfolk, as they continued their conversations from before, or started new ones about the quality of the sermon. Kunchen was finding the whole experience fascinating, especially after he got a hang of the position changes and repetitions. He'd never experienced anything like this before in Zaofu or the Air Temples and and was completely taken by it. These were the types of experiences he'd always wanted to try, and it felt great getting to be participating in a culture he'd never knew much about.

"I'll go congratulate the preacher on the sermon," said Yuan flatly, interrupting Kunchen's train of thought.

"Wait are you sure that's a good idea, I mean …" Kunchen began.

"It's expected of us. It'd actually look odd if we didn't. I've done it before, so just stay here, it should only take a few minutes," Yuan cut him off. He then turned towards the preacher and began walking, leaving a dejected and frustrated feeling Kunchen behind. The airbender stood awkwardly muttering insults and curses under his breath, waiting for his 'friend' to return, when he was approached by a small girl, who looked about 8 years old.

"Hi my name is Li. Are you an airbender, 'cause you have the same clothes that airbenders have?" She promptly inquired, in the most adorable manner possible.

"Oh, um actually yeah. My name is Kunchen," he replied wearing his first genuine smile of the day.

"That's so cool. I don't get to see any other benders, and it's so boring. Can you please show me? Pretty please?" she asked full of bouncing joy.

"Sure I don't see why not," he said, taking to small coins from out his pocket. He placed them between his two palms, before bringing his hands apart, while using air to spin them in circle, his best imitation of Master Meelo's favorite trick. Li clapped and giggled at both the trick, and the goofy smile on Kunchen's face. After a little bit Kunchen stopped a put the coins back in his pocket. "Wait a minute, you said you don't get to see other benders. Does that mean you're a bender?"

"Uh-huh," she said with a nod of her head, before stamping on the earth and sending a small stone flying up, which she caught in the air. "I can show you a bunch of really cool tricks. There's a field behind the shrine we can use!"

Kunchen thought for a moment before asking, "Are your parents ok with this?"

Li gave a sigh, "We can go ask them I guess, but I'm still going to show you my cool tricks."

As the two went to find Li's parents, Yuan had finally reached the front of the preachers congratulations line. Yuan had noted most of the praise was forced, as it usually was with these kinds of things, but the preacher was far more spirited than any Yuan had met before. He met each insincere thanks with a small speech about piety or spirits or whatever, Yuan stopped paying attention. Soon enough it was his turn to speak.

"That was a very moving sermon, father. Me and my friend were really glad to be here for it," Yuan said, though his voice strained for sincerity.

The preacher didn't seem to mind at all. "It was my pleasure. I don't recognize your faces, are you new to town?" His voice was soft and cloying in person, sending a small shiver down Yuan's spine.

"No, we're just passing through. Just glad we could attend a service during our travels." He hoped his practice with Kunchen earlier had made him effective at ending conversations.

"Ah travelers on the open road." Apparently his practice had been for not. "I noticed your friend wears an air nomads garments. Are you also a bender?"

"Yes, I'm an earthbender, we're traveling to see his family on the other side of the Earth States," They'd decided on this lie before they had left Zaofu, and honestly Yuan did get some enjoyment of dropping it in casual conversation, as one did when hiding a secret.

"This is excellent to hear. The world needs more benders who walk in the light of the spirits," the preacher praised.

"We try our best," Yuan said with a forced chuckle at the end.

"Don't feign modesty. As a bender you hold a special place in this world. We all have a duty, to the spirits and our fellow man, some great and some small. The duty of a bender is often a great one, and those whom follow the righteous path of the spirits are fated to achieve this. Are you aware of your own duty in this world, your purpose?" The preachers prying crossed a line from unnecessarily friendly to exceedingly creepy.

"Couldn't tell you. I do have to get going now we have a long road ahead of us," He wasn't even going to try and make a graceful exit, giving a quick good bye, before turning and walking away.

"Walk with the spirits young earthbender. You have a greater purpose my friend. You'll find it one day." The words followed Yuan as he walked away, and he suppressed a shiver. When he reached the spot where he left Kunchen he noticed the airbender was gone. He looked around and saw he was in a field to the side, sending friendly air blasts at a young girl, while she returned with a few stones from the ground. A few feet from them stood a couple in their early thirties.

As he walked over he waved and greeted the couple. "Hi there my name's Yuan. I'm friends with the airbender."

"Oh hi there," the woman turned with a smile. "Kunchen actually told us about you. My name is Shtiya and this is my husband Quan. Our daughter Li, saw Kunchen was an airbender and was really excited to see another bender so we thought it would be nice to let her play." The woman was slender and short with a dark complexion and blue eyes. The man was almost as tall as Yuan with a fairer complexion and green eyes.

"Oh it's no problem. They look like they're both having fun," Yuan had almost forgotten what joy had looked like, but it was admittedly nice to see them having a good time.

"Thank you. It's not often we get benders in the village, so Li doesn't always get a lot of exposure. We've gotten her some scrolls, but she definitely likes it best when there's another person to work with." Shtiya was clearly taking joy in seeing her daughter work her bending, and Quan had a warm smile on his face.

"I get that. When I was learning to earthbend it was always best when I worked with a teacher or friend," Yuan thought back to training with Phen and Teng, bringing back a series of warm memories.

"Well, as thanks for Kunchen, we wanted to offer you to stay with us tonight, dinner and a bed,"Shtiya kindly offered.

"Oh we wouldn't want to impose."

"It's perfectly alright, we'd love to have guests, and it looks like the two have become fast friends," Quan insisted.

With thoughts of a warm meal and soft bed, Yuan happily accepted.

With a fresh hot meal in front of them, Yuan and Kunchen wasted no time digging. They sat on one side of the table with Li, while Quan and Shtiya were positioned on the other. Li whispered small inside jokes in Kunchen's ear, getting giggles out of the two of them. Yuan decided to engage the two adults in conversation.

"So, Shtiya, I couldn't help notice you have a name from the water tribe. If you don't mind me asking how did you end up in the middle of the Earth States?" he asked in a friendly tone.

"Oh it's no problem. I actually grew up in Republic City, after me and my parents moved their from the North Pole," she answered politely.

Quan now spoke, "Well one day I went to the city to sell some wares, and I ended up running into her, and well …" they placed their hands on each others, and gave the other a loving smile.

"Yuck," vocalized Li, to a laugh from everyone.

"Tell you what Li, why don't you head off to bed for the night. It's past your bedtime anyway," Quan politely suggested.

"But dad…"

"Your fathers right," Shtiya decided to help. "Bed. Now."

Li left with a sigh, but not before whispering one final joke to Kunchen. As she left the remaining people turned to continue their conversation. "So Kunchen says you two are driving to see his family on the other side of the continent?" Kunchen smiled, having enjoyed telling the lie as much as Yuan had.

"Yeah, I'm really looking forward to seeing them," Kunchen responded. "That said, I've really enjoyed stopping here, Li is really something! She's really talented, and just so enthusiastic about bending."

"Thank you. We've enjoyed having you two around as well. She never gets to practice with anyone, and she really seems to have taken to you. Before you the only person she really had to talk to about bending was Preacher Kyu."

Yuan gulped at this. "Is that really wise? From the brief conversation I had with him, I got a really bad vibe. Not someone I would want to leave alone with a kid."

Quan nodded, "He's relatively new to town, and most people feel that way about him. When he first heard about Li's bending he insisted on talking to her. We supervised their sessions, and she actually seemed to be getting something from them, so we let it continue. Still, the man just weirds me out."

"I guess he might be alright. It's wrong to judge to book by it's cover." Yuan said this, but didn't quite believe this himself. At this point everyone had finished their food, so they cleared the table and did the dishes, before Shtiya and Quan adjourn to their room, while Yuan and Kunchen made themselves at home in a small guest room.

"It's nice to see you made such good friends with Li. Having a place to sleep for the night is great," Yuan congratulated as he slid into his bed.

Kunchen smiled a little as he slid into his own, "She's just the sweetest thing, and it's nice having someone to talk to."

Yuan felt a little bit guilty about this, but tried his best not to show it. "Well, thanks for getting us a place to stay for the night. I guess talking does help a little," he said with a chuckle.

Kunchen laughed at this, "It's alright. Hey, I did want to apologize for what I said in the car earlier. I didn't mean to come off as arrogant or ignorant, I just couldn't think of a better way to phrase myself."

"It's alright. I do actually know what you were trying to say," Kunchen clearly wanted to continue, but it looked like Yuan had had enough for the night, so the two quietly laid there until they fell asleep. After only an hour or two of rest, Yuan was roused when he heard a door in the house quietly close shut. He immediately sat up in bed, and seeing Kunchen was still asleep, he decided to go and investigate the noise on his own. When he entered the hallway he saw no one on either side, but as he approached the window, he saw a figure jog by. A small, childlike figure. "Why is Li up? And where is she going?" he thought to himself. Deciding action would work better than thinking in this scenario, he went back and shook Kunchen awake.

"Hey," he whispered. "Li just got up and is running somewhere."

"What? Where?" asked Kunchen as he hopped out of his bed. Yuan gave a shrug, before waving him to follow. The two quietly slipped out the front door and began running in the direction Li had sped off in. They soon found themselves back at the Shrine where they saw a glow coming out the window in a back room. The two silently approached the shrine, and entered through an unlocked front entrance, careful to make sure no one was watching them. They slowly walked towards the doorway that was emitting the light. Kunchen took a look inside and saw Li lying on the ground bound in handcuffs.

He gave an involuntary gasp, but before he could turn to Yuan, the earthbender was blindsided by a fireball to the side of the head, knocking him to the ground out cold. A second one came at Kunchen's head, which he barely dodged with a quick side shuffle. He turned to face his attacker and saw Preacher Kyu standing, with an unsettling grin on his face. Once again, before Kunchen could speak, a series of fire blasts came hurtling towards him. He continued his side step dodging, until he tripped over Yuan's body, sending himself crashing to the ground. He managed to make out the phrase, "and I thought airbenders were supposed to be graceful," before he was knocked out with a swift kick to the head.

Yuan and Kunchen woke within a few seconds of each other, finding themselves, along with Li, chained at their hands and feet, which were in turn chained to each other. They were at the bottom of the shrine, on the altar looking up at all the pews. From this angle, Kunchen got a clear view of the admittedly pretty, stain glass window that domed the shrine. He began studying the intricate depictions of the spirit world and all the different types of spirits being represented. His mind began racing with a thousand questions about the historical and cultural significance of the glass, when Yuan brought it to a prompt end, groggily inquiring, "Wait what just happened?" and bringing Kunchen back to reality.

"We were knocked out by Preacher Kyu. Turns out he's a firebender,"" Kunchen answered. "Li was kidnapped too, we have to help her."

"I'm right here," she piped up, just to the side of Kunchen, where he couldn't see.

"Oh."

"Li, why did you come here?" Yuan asked as calmly as he could muster in this situation. "Has the preacher … done anything bad to you? I mean other than this."

"No, Preacher Kyu has been helping me learn earthbending. The other day when he was talking to me, he told me to come visit the shrine late at night, so we could do a special night practice. He told me not to tell my parents, because they wouldn't let me do it. I'm sorry, I didn't think he would do this. He always seemed so nice," Li was clearly on the verge of tears as she explained the story.

Yuan and Kunchen shared a brief look, in utter disbelief at the young girls innocence, before trying to console her. "It's alright Li, we all make mistakes," Kunchen said in a reassuring voice.

"You just have to be more careful in the future," said Yuan. After it sounded like her sobbing had gone down, Yuan returned to business. "We need to find a way out of these chains. Any ideas?"

"None, I'm sorry," admitted Kunchen with a defeated sigh. The two sat in silence for another several minutes, before they heard Preacher Kyu's disgustingly peppy voice echo into the main room of the shrine.

"Yes, I'm certain the girl will make an excellent candidate. The airbender also has some potential, but the earthbender looked like a dead end. Still we've never had a surplus, so I figured the more the merrier." The dehumanizing way he referred to them was enough to instill a sense of panic in Yuan. He hurriedly tried to shake his chains off, to an obviously futile result.

"Wait, I got an idea," Kunchen announced proudly. He extended his index finger while retracting the others. He generated a concentrated cyclone of air at the tip of his finger, before placing it over the keyhole in his chains. He released the air, which blew open his lock, freeing his hands. He quickly repeated with his feet, before moving on and undoing Li's locks. Before he could get to Yuan's he looked up and saw the preacher was running towards them, having heard the noise of Li's chains hitting the ground.

Thinking fast, he scooped Li up underneath himself, and sent an airblast under his feet, propelling the two into the air. As they did so, Kyu sent a massive fire ball down their way, which they barely dodged, while Yuan was lightly licked by one of the resulting flames. Kunchen and Li shot through the air, until Kunchen burst through the glass ceiling, back first. Father Kyu ran out the door, both to avoid the glass shower, and also to recapture his escaped hostages. Yuan turned face down, to shield himself from the glass, which rained on him with minimal damage. "Don't mind me guys, I'm just chained burned, and cut all over." he grumbled as he furiously tried to inchworm himself off the altar and up the stairs, while avoiding the large shards of glass.

Kunchen and Li landed softly, outside the front entrance of the Shrine, with Preacher Kyu emerging from the doorway. Kunchen released Li and created a large cyclone of air to push the preacher back. Ku dug his heels into the ground and threw his arms across his face for protection. After being trapped for a few seconds, he brought his fist back, before throwing a sideways arced fireball at the two benders opposing him. Li stamped on the ground creating a small earth wall between the two and the fire, but the fireball burst on impact, and the shockwave sent Kunchen and Li crashing into each other. After both sides recovered, they each proceeded to throw fast and furious volleys of their own elements at each other. Kunchen stood in front of Li, and knocked away any fire aimed at her with an airblast, but the two were slowly being pushed backwards by the preacher.

Kunchen began to falter underneath the onslaught, and was hit in the stomach by a blast of fire, throwing him and Li to the ground. As he looked up, expecting to see a wave of fire to finish them, he saw Yuan on his stomach flopping out of the shrines double doors. The unbelievably angry looking avatar managed to turn himself to his back, where he lifted and slammed his ankles against the ground, kicking up a mound of earth that shot from his feet to Kyu's, knocking the preacher off balance. The preacher turned to his new adversary and gave a sudden smile as he lifted his fist and prepared to finish a helpless Yuan.

Before he could do so, Kunchen gave one final massive air jump, and managed to flip over Kyu, to right in front of Yuan, landing just as a wave of fire burst from the preachers hand. Kunchen released another cyclone from his palms, meeting and stopping the fire right as it would roast the two benders. Soon he and Kyu were locked in an elemental game of tug-of-war, with each side doing their best to overpower the other. As Kunchen slowly began to lose ground, he turned one of his arms back, and created two mini cyclones on the tips of his fingers, which he shot back into Yuan's locks.

Now free Yuan slammed both his palms into the ground, shooting up a wall of earth between the two and Kyu. Acting faster than Kunchen thought possible, Yuan shot forward, punching into the wall, sending stones flying out at Preacher Kyu. The preacher dodged the first two, but was caught in the shoulder by the third, and was thoroughly pummeled by the ensuing nine. Now with the enemy on his back, Yuan burst through the wall, emerging with his two fists now encased in gauntlets of stone. The preacher stood back as Yuan charged down at him, and when him and the earthbender were in point blank range, he shot off a final fireball. Again with surprising swiftness, Yuan twisted his head, avoiding the blast by inches. He then swung back his right fist, and landed a solid hook into the preachers jaw. Kyu flew swiftly to the ground, and laid there motionless for a moment, before he began breathing again.

Once it was clear he was unconscious, Kunchen walked up to Yuan and asked, "Was it really necessary to get that close."

"Not necessary," said Yuan as he turned, revealing a huge lopsided grin. "Satisfying."

"We can't thank the two of you enough," repeated Shtiya for the third time, as Yuan and Kunchen had finished filling the jeep with gas. There had been some hysterics following their defeat of Preacher Kyu, but the local law enforcement had gotten everything back in check. Both Yuan and Kunchen had given statements, and along with the chains and the preachers cryptic journal, that had a heavy focus on Li, that had been enough to put the preacher away before a trial. The two returned Li back to her parents safe and sound, and enjoyed an enormous celebratory breakfast for their actions. Now it was time to hit the road again, and even Yuan was finding it a little hard to say goodbye to the unbelievably generous family.

"It was nothing. We're just glad that Li is ok," replied Yuan. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kunchen giving Li a hug good bye, before getting into the drivers seat. "If we're ever near by again, we'll make sure to drop by. Wouldn't miss your cooking for the world."

"Please, don't be strangers," gave Shtiya as a final request. Yuan got into his seat of the car, and him and Kunchen waved goodbye, as they sped off on the open road.

After five minutes of driving in silence Kunchen turned to Yuan, "It was harder than I thought, saying good bye."

"They were really good to us. I'm just glad we were able to help them. I knew Kyu was bad news, but I didn't think that bad." Yuan never thought he would miss the services back in Urumqi, but now, it didn't seem like too bad of an alternative.

"That guy was sick! What do you think all his talk about 'candidates' was?" Kunchens voice was a mix of anger and curiosity.

"I don't know. I've tried to keep it out of my mind." This was a bald faced lie. Yuan hadn't stopped going over the words in his head, comparing them to the sermon and the preachers tirade on duty as a bender.

"Oh, ok," Kunchen took this as a sign that the conversation was over. The two sat in silence for another several minutes, before Yuan began to feel bad about how he'd initially treated his traveling companion.

"I figured out I was the avatar when I was nine," he said with a sigh. Kunchen looked up from the road with a curious look on his face. "From earlier, before we reached the village, you asked when I learned I was the Avatar. I learned when I was nine. My mom had sent me to bed without supper one night, for some reason or another, I forget. Anyways, she sent me to my room, and I was really mad. Like super mad. Eventually I got so steamed that one of my hands actually burst into flames. I panicked at first, but once I realized it didn't hurt, I figured out how to control it. It took me a few days to figure out what this meant, and when I did, I could barely believe it. I didn't want to be the Avatar. Nobody wanted to be the Avatar. Everyone hates the Avatar. So I hid it, from everyone. I figured if I never showed anyone, then I could live an ordinary life. Seemed like a good enough idea at the time."

"Wow, umm … thanks for opening up about that. Seriously I had no idea," Kunchen had a genuinely touched expression on his face.

"No problem. It actually felt good to open up about it for once." The two continued talking as they drove along, and for once Yuan didn't mind the conversation.

Coming Soon: Chapter 4 - Giving Aid