The people of the Earth Kingdom have always been known to be three things: strong, persistent and enduring. The might explain why the nicest cities the two have ever saw were in the Earth Kingdom. Their stone buildings had once crumbled like the rest of the world had but the people simply stacked the pieces back in place. Despite their fine bending to rebuild cracks ran through most of the buildings reminding everyone this place wasn't quite as whole as it had been in the past. But like most of the Earth Kingdom's problems the people didn't talk about it. Either by royal decree or a testament to their silent endurance.
Which didn't really matter to Andy and Tiffany. They weren't looking for the sob story, hell everyone had their own personal version of it. What they wanted was a fresh start but it wasn't long before peace was broken by man running past them.
"What the," Andy mumbled.
"Should we liike- go check that out?"
"I guess so," she answered being a little unsure but in the end curiosity won out.
They followed after the man who had stopped to take a breather. His hands on his dark green pants as he bent over.
"Are you ok?" Tiffany asked as they got close.
Before Andy could even say anything the earthbender jumped bending the ground underneath their feet to pull it out from under them. The girls landing instantly on their bottoms with an audible sound.
Tiffany jumped back up on her feet being quick to th draw as she shot fire at him.
The flames licked the slab of granite Jake was able to full up just as fast.
"What the hell," Andy asked taking a moment to brush the dust off.
"You aren't with-," he stammered, "You are firebenders?"
"Andy. TIffany," she said pointing to them respectively, "And you are?"
"Jake," he said a bit unsure about them still, his fight or flight stance still very much intact.
"Who are you running from?" Tiffany asked taking a quick look behind them just incase she had missed something.
"There a group of men, the Equalists, who were kidnapping benders. I managed to escape and have been trying to get back home ever since," he explained.
Their title rang threw Tiffany's head feeling like she had heard it before but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Andy was the one who ended up asking what she was thinking. "Who are the Equalist?"
Jake looked around growing a bit paranoid after simply hearing the question. "They use leftover bits of tech they find to gain power. They sweep through this area not too long again. I got away as they were moving their camp up towards the water tribes."
"Why don't you get your King to do something about it?" Tiffany asked.
Jake laughed leaving both the girls confused for a moment. "There is no war in Ba Sing Se," he added. That saying used to be something more literal but over the years it grew into almost a joke about their hopeless situation. Maybe that is how the earth nation became such a tough and resilient people. They had always known how to carry on.
In the distance there was a rumble, rocks sliding against each other sounding grumpy to do so. The noise took up all their attention for a moment but it was Jake we decided he really didn't want to hang around anymore and made a bolt for it.
"Hey wait!" Tiffany called after him but earthbended himself a very clean escape.
With a sigh she turned to look at Andy. "Think we should bring this up to the King anyways?"
Andy made a face at the suggestion not knowing for sure how she felt about the idea. "I don't think we should just forget about it. I mean he was sincerely spooked," she replied, "Plus that group heading towards where John was? Sounds a bit fishy to me."
"We aren't going turn to the hero type now are we?" Tiffany teased.
"Nah," Andy laughed, "Consider it adventures curiosity."