Avatar: The Warring Earth
Book Two—Air
By Twins of the Pen
Disclaimer: Avatar in itself belongs to Nickelodeon and Bryan Konietzko/Michael DiMartino. The only things that belong to Twins of the Pen are the original characters.
The morning waves crashed against the shoreline, the sun rising up over them. Feet padded softly against the shifting sands, a steady pant from the runner. ZanYi controlled her breathing, finding solace in the routine. After making a full recovery from being sick, it felt good to be out every morning, running and training. Some sort of consistency.
Apparently Syaoran had made mild progress in airbending—enough to make Tiki excited anyway. Still no air though, and that's what concerned the lieutenant a bit. She almost feared she was exuding that, since Syaoran did not seem to be her shadow anymore. But he was working hard, and that's what mattered at the moment. ZanYi just hoped for a breakthrough soon. Being on the island for so long, with no word from anyone outside of it on the state of the war… It was enough to make a soldier lose her mind a bit, despite being apparently a wanted traitor.
Coming to the end of her run, ZanYi slowed her pace before coming to a stop. She sat down on the sand next to her stuff, taking a swig of the water bottle she'd brought with her.
It was like clockwork—the moment ZanYi sat down, Shun popped up, his head bobbing above the ocean waves. His resulting fever from swimming all night had done nothing to deter him from his beloved ocean—he spent every morning swimming, just as ZanYi spent every morning training. Since both of their recoveries, it had become an unspoken habit for them to meet up on the beach after they were both finished with their morning routines, and just like every other day, ZanYi was there on the shoreline. Shun swam through the deeper parts of the water until his feet reached the bottom—which was quite soon—and then waded the rest of the way towards her.
"Morning," he greeted, taking a seat next to the lieutenant and wringing out his sea-soaked hair. Maybe he should consider cutting it like Tiki had suggested forever ago—it just kept getting longer and longer. If he were not careful, he would appear as a very tall woman from behind.
Shun reclined a little, closing his eyes and enjoying the warmth of the rising sun. It was shaping up to be another beautiful day on Southern Air Island. The giant waterbender wondered just how long this peace could last, though. It seemed almost too good to be true that another week had passed without incident, since the run-in Tiki had with some bitter refugees that had been banished from the island. Shun had never before seen YinLi so furious… it was quite a spectacle. At least this morning was starting out as peaceful as any other morning.
"Morning," the lieutenant replied, taking another drink of her water. Speaking of shadows, when one disappeared, it seemed another popped up. Ever since she was sick, Shun never seemed to stray far from her. Normally ZanYi was not one for such behavior, but the waterbender seemed to be fine walking the line between present and clinging to where she couldn't quite bring herself to tell him to bug off. Or bug off completely, anyway. "Good swim?" she asked, looking over at him at the corner of her eye. She already knew the answer from looking at him. Shun seemed quite content, which was a dead ringer for a satisfying swim. ZanYi leaned back onto her elbows, letting the sea breeze cool her down from the extensive run.
Everything seemed so quiet. The waves were quiet. The air was quiet. The island was quiet. It was unnerving and irritating for the lieutenant. Despite the long bout of exercise, it wasn't enough to shake away all of the nerves that were growing each and every day. ZanYi started to rap her fingers against the sand, as if that would get out the excess energy.
Shun, who had been enjoying the peace, was distracted by the muffled tapping coming from ZanYi's direction. He looked over to discover that the noise was just her fingers in the sand. "Something wrong?" he asked, putting a large hand over hers, mostly to stop the restless movement. Mostly. He had only seen ZanYi this wound up the night he had disagreed with her about heading out to Omashu to back up her brother. The fact that she was lounging on a beach—even in exile—while Zaron was still fighting the good fight had to put ZanYi on edge. Shun wished he could do something to take her mind off things. He just had no idea what would work.
ZanYi looked at Shun, as if chewing her words whether she wanted to say them or not. Despite their new agreement, it was still a battle whether she would actually say anything to him. It was difficult, a force of habit to say nothing at all.
But she was willing to try, and this was one of those times.
"I hate sitting here doing nothing," ZanYi finally answered, turning away to look back at the waves. She sat back up, pulling her hand from his. "I'm doing nothing and everyone else is out there fighting. I don't even know what's going on, who's winning, who's still alive…"
The lieutenant had to cut herself off there. She wasn't willing to think about that. If ZanYi was going to keep pushing herself forward each day, she had to hold on to hope.
"Fight me."
The words came out before she thought about them, and even when she thought about them, it didn't change her mind. ZanYi rose to her feet, brushing the sand off of her pants. Looking back to Shun, the lieutenant leveled her eyes on him. "Spar with me."
Shun's eyebrows had shot up into his hairline when ZanYi spoke initially. The clarification did not make it much better. "You want to spar… with me?" Shun wanted to clarify, getting to his feet as well. If ZanYi was looking for a fight, she was looking in the wrong place. Shun spent half his time trying to keep her out of dangerous situations, and now she wanted him to purposefully put her in one? Shun didn't think his nerves could handle it.
"I don't know…" he began slowly, searching frantically for a way out. "I really wouldn't be a match for you, ZanYi. You'd probably have me beat in five seconds. It wouldn't be any fun for you, really." And Shun would not be serious if she tried to spar him—he would take a thousand blows before he dared to raise a hand against ZanYi.
But she wasn't accepting that. The lieutenant stepped closer to him, crossing her arms. "C'mon, Shun," she insisted, not ready to give it up. "You used to spar with Tiki all the time. I don't care about having fun, I just…" The lieutenant searched for the right words. And the only ones she could come up with were costly in her book. ZanYi looked away for a second grumpily, taking a deep breath. "I need a distraction. I need to push myself, get these nerves out." ZanYi glanced back at Shun, reluctant. She poked his chest, pushing back the anxiety for a smirk. "So, what's it going to be, Big Guy?"
A corner of Shun's mouth turned down. He wanted to help ZanYi, he really did… but sparring? Shun was comfortable sparring with Tiki because she wasn't vicious… though she did tend to pull cheap tricks. And Shun wasn't in love with Tiki, so ZanYi asking him to spar against her was a whole other ball game.
Shun let out a slow breath, staring into ZanYi's eyes. She needed this—badly. And, naturally, this meant that Shun had to give in. It was just one little spar, right? He wasn't going to hurt her, and she wasn't going to… well, Shun might have to patch himself up later, depending on how enthusiastic ZanYi got.
"…Oh, all right," he conceded, reaching up to tie his hair back. He gave ZanYi a look and then added, "Just… make sure you don't pummel me completely into the ground, all right? I'm still a civilian, Lieutenant." His hair tied back and out of the way, Shun cocked his head to the side as he surveyed ZanYi. "So how do you want to do this? Any rules you want instated before we begin?" he offered. He wanted to make sure they both were on fair ground before starting the match—Shun had to learn the hard way that if he did not lay down ground rules first, Tiki would take advantage of him any way she could.
Already some of the tension was easing inside the lieutenant, and the nerves were rearing up, itching to come out in flames. But ZanYi kept that down for the moment. She'd have plenty of that in a few minutes. "First down on the ground, no boundaries, no tap-outs, and I won't use lightning," the lieutenant rattled off, putting her hands on her hips. She quirked an eyebrow, the spark starting to light her eyes. This would be the first time actually fighting someone in far too long. She wasn't war-hungry or bloodthirsty. But ZanYi would be lying if she said she didn't miss training with her soldiers, going into combat. It pushed her, fueled her. And she needed it. "Sound good? Anything you want to add?"
Shun quirked a brow. No tap-outs? Someone was feeling a little merciless. Not completely, though, since she ruled out using lightning, which was good: no need for him to die young. "I'll stay on land," Shun added as his own restriction, "but other than that, I'm good."
ZanYi was getting excited, he could tell. He had to smirk a little at her enthusiasm. Taking two huge steps back, the giant waterbender got into a low stance, hands outstretched towards the ocean.
"Ready when you are, Lieutenant."
"Game on."
ZanYi didn't need any other encouragement. Her hands went ablaze and her charge was swift. Rushing up to Shun, the lieutenant jumped up to fire down at him, flipping over him to land at his back. "Don't make this too easy for me," she urged him at his ear.
Shun had raised a shield of water to guard him from ZanYi's blows, but did not anticipate the voice at his ear; he flushed, an involuntary shiver running down his spine. How did she always manage to have that effect on him? It wasn't fair.
Refocusing, the giant waterbender spun around, pulling water with him to cascade down on ZanYi. He used this as a distraction to jump back and put distance between them again.
"I wouldn't dream of it," he teased her with a grin. He was quite sure that, if he dared to go easy on her, that ZanYi would never forgive him.
"Good. I don't like easy."
ZanYi shook the water from her face, wet locks dripping down onto her shoulders. But it wasn't enough to deter her and her flames. So she started a quick succession of flames, punching with every step she ran. When ZanYi reached him, she swiped out a kick at his feet to knock him off balance.
Shun managed to block every fiery punch thrown at him, but his height proved to be his weakness in this instance: the kick ZanYi aimed at his legs brought him down like a house of cards.
However, Shun had trained himself to fall on his hands, no matter what. He spun mid-fall, his long arms stretching out to palm the sand before the rest of his body could follow, catching himself. And then he returned the favor, donkey-kicking ZanYi in the abdomen. The giant waterbender winced as he did it, only putting half of his normal power into the kick. There was no need to break ZanYi's ribs. Bringing his legs back under him, Shun scrambled back up onto his feet as fast as he could before ZanYi could swoop in and make his stomach touch the ground.
ZanYi fell back at the kick, her body bending over. When she flew back a bit, the lieutenant reached a hand back to catch herself on her fall, pivoting it in the sand to land crouched on her feet. A smirk spread across her lips. Shun had struck back.
Good.
"Not bad, Big Guy," ZanYi encouraged him. But it wasn't going to be enough. With a sweep of her hands, the woman released a low wave of fire that he'd have to jump to avoid. Following after the fire, sprinting, she used the moment he was in the air to whirl a kick at his chest.
Shun had indeed jumped, just as ZanYi had anticipated. He saw the kick coming, however, and caught ZanYi's ankle as she came at him, using her own momentum to send her flying past him.
The avoidance maneuver cost him a bit, however: his landing was rough, and he stumbled, one of his hands going into the sand to steady himself—not a good position to be in during a fight. He hoped ZanYi was busy regaining her balance as well as he struggled to stand up straight.
But she wasn't. In fact, the lieutenant landed on her feet quite easily. So when she did, ZanYi moved quickly to the unbalanced Shun and swiped a fiery leg quick into the air above his head, keeping him from rising. And she moved in.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Thankfully the waterbender had sand to cushion the fall as he went down on his back. ZanYi was perched on his stomach, a fiery hand posed and aimed to fire.
"I win," she told him with a small smirk, flicking her eyebrows up for a second. ZanYi allowed her eyes to trail down Shun, before coming back up to his face. "Well, isn't this a bit of déjà vu?"
Shun didn't even care that he lost. In fact, he was glad that he lost, because it improved ZanYi's mood a bit. He did, however, care immensely about the fact that ZanYi was occupying his abdomen once again. This sort of elation he was not allowed to feel. "A little, yeah…" Shun agreed breathlessly, blood rushing to his face. The sad part was that this was beginning to happen so often that he was almost getting used to it. He no longer froze up and got tongue-tied, in any case. That could be considered progress, in a way.
Still, ZanYi really should move. "…You can get up any time now," Shun prompted her, as subtle as a gun. If anyone saw them this way—Syaoran especially—Shun would be a dead man.
ZanYi did not particularly care, though. Instead, she extinguished her hand and put both of them in the sand on either side of Shun's head. Mischief in her eyes, the lieutenant moved forward close to him. "And what if I don't want to move?" she asked him softly. She was attracted to Shun. ZanYi had no qualms accepting that fact. She also could trust him with her own life. Shun had proven that beyond a doubt by this point. He was important enough to her that she was starting to try to trust him with more than just her life.
The lieutenant moved in real close then, her breath close on his lips. "What's the matter, Shun? Afraid I'll kiss you again?"
Shun swallowed loudly. She was a demon, a temptress conjured up by higher powers that enjoyed watching him squirm. That was the only rational explanation he could come up with for why she was always teasing him like this, stealing his breath away, making his mind go blank…
Shun wanted to tell her that he didn't mind if she wanted to kiss him again—but at the same time, he wanted to tell her not to. It was a struggle, day in and day out, between what Shun wanted and what was morally ethical. At this point, the giant waterbender didn't even trust his own voice, so he remained silent out of fear that the wrong answer might slip out if he dared to say one word. ZanYi snickered a bit, pleased with the reaction, since Shun seemed quite beside himself with what to do about her behavior. And she was quite ready to tease him some more when a loud screech filled the air.
She bolted upright, turning to the waves and the sound of the noise. There was a small dot in the light of the rising sun, and it cried out again. As it got closer, ZanYi could make out that it was avian, one with a proud wingspan. And it was coming right for her.
"A dragonhawk?" she muttered, watching the animal come ever closer. Then her golden eyes widened in recognition, in elation as well as anxiety. ZanYi slowly rolled off of Shun. "Xie Xie?"
The lieutenant lifted her forearm in the air and was not disappointed. The dragonhawk flew a circle around her before perching comfortably on her arm, beak nuzzling against the woman's cheek. The proud beast was a boastful red in color, his beak, crest, and undercarriage of feathers a glistening yellow, like the gold of the rising sun. "Xie Xie," she repeated, assured now.
Shun let out a slow breath, thankful for that bird's timing. Any longer in that position, and he didn't know what was going to happen. "Friend of yours?" Shun asked, sitting up and cringing when he felt the gritty texture of sand on the length of his back and in his hair. Well, that was going to take ages to get out. Shun eyed the strange bird, never seeing anything quite like it. "Where did it come from?" he asked, reaching out a hand to stroke the bird's feathers.
However, at Shun's touch, the dragonhawk went to snap at Shun. Anticipating that, ZanYi moved the beast away from the waterbender. "Watch out. He doesn't like people," she warned him, reaching up to stroke its feathers. Xie Xie seemed to find that much more preferable and let out a pleased squawk. "But yeah, this dragonhawk is from the island. It's the only way Sifu communicates, for the most part. Xie Xie doesn't like him, though, only…"
And then the lieutenant found the note attached to the dragonhawk, saw the military seal on the note, and she looked about out of words. "…Only me and Zaron…" she finished. With a passionate flurry, ZanYi took the note off of Xie Xie and allowed the beast to climb up to her shoulder then as she unfurled it. It was just as she thought. "It's from Zaron…"
Shun was abruptly alert. Zaron had sent her a note? Wasn't that incredibly risky of him? What if the note had been intercepted?
"What does it say?" Shun wanted to know, leaning in to read the note upside-down. But, unfortunately, he could not make sense of the symbols—or were they words?—scrawled across the surface of the scroll ZanYi held. The giant waterbender's brow furrowed, and he looked to ZanYi for an explanation. Now that he had seen the note, Shun could understand why Zaron felt it safe to send a note to ZanYi: one would have to be an expert code-breaker to make sense of such chaos.
But ZanYi wasn't listening, focused only on working through the encryption in front of her eyes. It didn't make sense to Shun—and it wouldn't make sense to anyone else. Of course, that was assuming that Xie Xie even let someone close enough to that note to try and read it. That dragonhawk was more vicious and loyal than some of her finest soldiers. But her and Zaron had made this code so long ago, it was easy for her to read. It wasn't ever supposed to have been used. The lieutenant was suddenly thankful that they had had the foresight to do it anyway. It meant that she finally heard from her brother.
When ZanYi finished reading the letter, she folded it up and slipped it into her pocket. "I've got to go," was all she said, moving past Shun to grab her water and her belongings off of the beach.
Shun, however, grabbed ZanYi's wrist before she could make it past him. "Whoa, where's the fire?" he asked, mentally slapping himself for such a stupid pun. "You want to tell me what's going on before you just rush off?"
What had been in the letter that had her in such a hurry? If Shun knew how these things worked, it wasn't anything good. It was like waking unpleasantly from a dream: they had spent so many weeks on Southern Air Island that Shun had almost forgotten that there was a whole other world outside the island, a world of war-torn countries, back-stabbing politics…
Why was ZanYi in such a hurry to go back again? Shun's gaze pierced her, wanting answers. "Are you sure that letter was from your brother? The Resistance has painted you a traitor, remember? Are you certain they couldn't have just forged his...hieroglyphics, or whatever that was?" He had already told ZanYi that he would never willingly leave her side. Therefore, didn't he have a right to know what was so dang important all of a sudden?
Xie Xie screeched as Shun grabbed ZanYi's wrist, but before the animal could attack, the lieutenant held up her other hand as a fist, halting it. The dragonhawk, trained well, did not move from his perch on her shoulder. So that left her only to worry about Shun. Her eyes were set and determined. "Zaron and I made this code when he was just starting out in the military, in case for some reason something ever happened to one of us, to let the other know we're okay," she explained, though rather hastily, as if eager to move on. "There's no way that anyone could copy it because it's never been written before. We memorized it and burned all scraps of it. The only key to this code is his mind and mine."
ZanYi focused on Shun, only him, as if willing him to believe her words. "I'm going back. He is the one person in this world that I trust completely. So if Zaron thinks its safe for me where he is, I will not hesitate."
Shun analyzed ZanYi's expression. She appeared confident in her words; Shun himself was rather impressed that she and her brother had made up their own language. He also recognized that determined glint in her eye: ZanYi was leaving to go to where her brother was, whether Shun liked it or not. Clearly, this left only one course of action for the giant waterbender.
"Then I'm going with you."
It was not a suggestion, nor a command—it was a statement of fact. Shun had already told ZanYi that she was basically stuck with him for the rest of her life, so he was hoping that she wasn't thinking about taking off on her own; then they would have to waste precious time arguing about it. Shun had already made up his mind a long time ago: he was going to go wherever ZanYi went, and there was nothing she could say or do to stop him.
ZanYi tilted her head, her brow furrowed. She exhaled, looking at him as if she didn't know what to do. And that was just it. If it was just her, she could go without any qualms or hesitations, no questions asked. But Shun was not going to let her do that. She could tell that by looking at him. And the waterbender was a man of his word. True to his word, Shun was not about to leave her side. In a way, it encouraged her, reminded her that she was making the right decision by letting in Shun.
It also, however, left certain problems.
"What about Syaoran and Tiki, Shun?" ZanYi had to ask him. "Syaoran is the Avatar; we can't just leave him alone on an island full of refugees and their children with only Tiki to watch over him. Someone has to protect them."
"Then let's bring them with us," Shun said simply, far from deterred. "If your brother is sending for you, it must be somewhere safe, right? Safe enough for all of us?" Shun knew he was pushing it a little, but he was not about to let ZanYi leave without him. And Shun was certain that Syaoran would be unhappy if ZanYi tried to leave without saying a word. So unless ZanYi was willing to bring them all along for the ride, there was going to be trouble either way. "…I know you want to see your brother," Shun said softly, his eyes compassionate, "and I'm not trying to keep you from him. But the four of us—you, me, Tiki and Syaoran—we're a team. You can't just leave and expect us to be okay with it, can you? We were falling apart the last time you tried that. We missed you… I missed you."
Shun got to his feet, his gaze entreating as he stared down at ZanYi. "We can all go, ZanYi. We'll use Tiki's sky bison. Just let us come with you. Please."
ZanYi didn't know what to say at first. In some ways, she was just trying to grasp the depth of which his words were coming from. This was deeper than loyalty, and those were strong ties on their own. Shun was just calm about it all, but firm. He hardly ever got that firm about his decisions.
But, most times, it was enforcing the fact that he was not about to leave her. That counted for something.
It was with a bit of reluctance that eventually the lieutenant agreed. "Fine," she said. "If the others are willing to come along, then you can all come." Her blazing eyes met Shun's oceanic ones, and stayed there. ZanYi moved her hand out of the tight grasp Shun held on her wrist, only to wrap her fingers around his hand and apply her warmth there. "Will that satisfy you?" she asked him.
Shun's face split into a relieved grin at her consent. Wow, that had been easier than he thought. Now all that was left to do was convince Syaoran and Tiki… which would be a breeze, of course. Shun gave ZanYi's hand a light squeeze in return.
"For now," he teased before letting go of her hand. "I imagine you'll want to leave as soon as possible, so I'll go rally the troops."
Shun got approximately three paces away before he stopped in his tracks. Paranoia beginning to overtake him, the giant waterbender turned and approached ZanYi once more, placing a large hand on the shoulder the vicious dragonhawk wasn't occupying. "Stay," Shun said firmly, fixing ZanYi with a serious gaze. The last thing he wanted was her speeding off in one of the speedboats the moment he turned his back. He wanted her to swear on her title as lieutenant first that she would not move before he had a chance to talk to everyone else first.
The corner of her mouth lifted for a second. He was getting good at predicting her moves. But she had no intention of disappearing. This time. "I won't leave yet," she told him with a slight nod. The lieutenant did, though, reach down to grab her things at last. "I'm going to go back to our room and gather my belongings. I'll wait till I hear back from you to leave," ZanYi assured him as she walked past the waterbender to head to the walkway up to the house. "You'll probably find them meditating still," she offered back to him, not looking back. "I would hurry along, though."
That was her warning. She wasn't waiting long. As soon as ZanYi heard whether the team was coming or not, she was going to be gone.
Shun certainly did not need telling twice. As soon as ZanYi had finished speaking, he was off, hoping very much that Tiki and Syaoran were where they were supposed to be, and were able to make quick decisions.
Tiki let out a slow breath and opened her gray eyes. "Very good, Syaoran," she praised the Avatar in front of her. "That'll be all for right now. You can take a break before we head over to the dojo."
As Tiki stood up to stretch her legs, she noticed Kei heading towards them, a lemur perched on his shoulder. Lili had spontaneously reappeared the past week, just after YinLi booted the refugees that had abused Tiki off the island. Tiki had been so happy to see her old friend that she had almost started crying again, but she managed to hold herself together, clutching her lemur all the while. Lili had taken a real shine to Kei, however, who had been very attentive to Tiki when he found out what Nero and Sai had been up to the day he'd seen Tiki weeping in Syaoran's arms. Slowly, Tiki began to warm to him again, and they were getting along better than ever.
"All done?" Kei greeted, resting his hands on the rail of the gazebo as he smiled up at Tiki.
"For now," Tiki said, her arms resting on the rail as she leaned down, returning Kei's smile.
"Good, then maybe you can help me: Lili keeps picking through my hair for some reason. It's not so much annoying as it is distracting, but… do you have any idea why?" the nonbender asked, stroking Lili's head. The lemur purred in response, and Tiki smothered her giggles.
"It's a lemur thing: she's looking for bugs to eat," Tiki informed Kei, scratching Lili under her chin. The lemur took flight, only to land on Tiki's head a second later and do just what Tiki had said. Kei chuckled as Tiki pulled the lemur from her tresses, holding Lili in her arms instead.
"She's fascinating. The only animal I've ever played with is a dog," Kei recalled, resuming his stroking of Lili's head, now that she was somewhat restrained. Tiki gave him a curious look.
"You mean a polar bear dog?"
"No, I mean a dog. Just a dog," Kei corrected. Tiki gave him a funny look.
"Just a dog…? That's weird," she commented, and Kei chuckled. She was just about to ask him more about this 'just a dog' business when a large distraction in the form of Shun appeared, panting lightly as he approached. "Oh, hi, Shun. Enjoy your swim?" Tiki asked, seeing that the giant waterbender was soaked. At the coating of sand on his backside, Tiki quirked a brow. "What happened, did you trip and fall as you were wading out of the ocean?"
"I need to talk to you," Shun cut across her, his ice blue eyes serious. "And Syaoran, too. It's urgent."
Tiki stared at Shun. 'Urgent' never meant anything good. "What's happened?" she wanted to know. Shun's eyes shifted to Kei before he glanced quickly away, a motion that was not missed by neither Tiki nor Kei.
"I'll explain to you and Syaoran in a minute," Shun promised, the name he had not said conspicuously absent. Frowning now, Tiki handed Lili back to Kei.
"Would you excuse us for a moment, please, Kei? This seems like it's important," Tiki said with an apologetic look. Kei nodded after a moment, only looking marginally offended.
"I'll just be, uh, over here then…" the nonbender trailed off, walking back in the direction of YinLi's house. Tiki turned as Shun entered the gazebo, her arms folded.
"What's so important that I had to send Kei away, Shun? Now he thinks we're excluding him."
"Listen," Shun commanded, looking as serious as ever, "ZanYi just received a letter from her brother via dragonhawk. He's sending for her, and she plans to leave as soon as possible. If you two are willing, she says you can come along, but we have to move fast, so you'd better make up your minds quick."
Tiki blinked, the information overload briefly stunning her. Well, wasn't that a kick-start to their morning? "Leave?" she repeated uncertainly, looking unhappy. "Oh… I don't know, Shun. I mean, I'd hate to see ZanYi go, but…"
But this was her home now. She had responsibilities to attend to, what with the temporary council representing the airbenders sending her letters for her to make decisions on a couple days a week. She also had the dojo, where she was committed to teaching at least one class every week, not to mention Syaoran's airbending training, which was still slow going. And she had her Aunt Li, her cousins Ping, Pai and Sho… and then there was Kei…
Tiki didn't want to leave. The murder of her parents had her scared now: what if she left Southern Air Island and returned years later, only to find that the island had been purged while she had not been there to help protect it? How could she forgive herself then? How could Shun ask her to leave?
"…I think I'll stay," Tiki decided, though there was no small amount of uncertainty on her face; a hand wandered up to play with her hair.
"Tiki, are you sure?" Shun asked, surprised. "I'm not going to force you to go if you don't want to, but… are you sure you want to stay here?"
Tiki stared at the floor, frowning as she ran her fingers through a lock of her long hair. That was the problem: she wasn't sure. Tiki definitely did not want to leave the island, but she did not want to be parted from her friends either. They had become a family, a team. How could she choose between her home and her family? It wasn't fair at all.
Perturbed by her silence, Shun chose to give her a minute to make up her mind. "What do you think, Syaoran?" he asked instead, turning his attention to the Avatar.
The Avatar took a deep breath, trying his best to think of a rational decision. And here, they had been having a calm morning and then a bomb was dropped on them. Syaoran would have to marvel at the fact that the sergeant major had been able to get a message out to ZanYi later. Right now, Shun needed an answer—promptly.
Of course, knowing the lieutenant, she would want to leave immediately. She always took action when action was required and she did it swiftly. So chances were they were being pressed for time on their decision. This was not something he could decide on easily though. Part of him wanted to jump on this, eager to follow after ZanYi. But he'd been doing his best to start detaching himself from her. It was not done with a light heart, but Syaoran had to do it. And since he'd started doing that, relaxing was becoming easier. He was finally making progress—even if there was no air.
So if ZanYi were to leave completely…
"I think… I have to agree with Tiki…" Syaoran answered slowly, still working out the answer as he said it. It was the most rational decision he could come up with—and Syaoran was the most rational after a good meditation.
"Really?" Tiki and Shun spoke at the same time, their expressions matching in incredulity. It was, after all, a shock that Syaoran was not immediately jumping to follow after ZanYi, wherever that may lead. But now Shun was in a difficult position: if both Tiki and Syaoran were unwilling to leave the island, that would leave them unprotected if Shun left with ZanYi. But Shun had already promised ZanYi that he would not leave her side… perhaps the giant waterbender had been too confident that Tiki and Syaoran would want to leave with them.
"I see…" he sighed, rubbing his stubbly chin with a torn expression on his face. Tiki's intuition was tipped off by such an expression.
"You already told ZanYi you'd leave with her, didn't you?" she guessed. Shun let out a sigh.
"Yeah. But, if you two are staying—"
"Don't be stupid," Tiki chided immediately, folding her arms, "You already told ZanYi you'd go with her, so go with her. Syaoran and I will be fine."
How tempting Tiki's words were. But as he looked down at the tiny airbender, Shun knew that it would kill him to leave her and Syaoran behind almost as much as it would kill him to let ZanYi leave on her own. It was like asking him which of them he'd rather live without, and the giant waterbender just could not make that decision.
His hesitation had Tiki frowning. "Didn't you hear me? I said go," she insisted firmly. "Syaoran and I can take care of ourselves."
"I can't leave you two here, Teeks," Shun said with a sad shake of his head. "It wouldn't be right."
"Who cares about right? You love ZanYi, don't you?" Tiki spoke bluntly, only feeling a little bad as she talked about the elephant in the room. But what was the point in denying the truth all three of them knew? "You don't want to be without her, do you?"
A forlorn smile stretched across Shun's face as he patted Tiki's head with a large hand. "I don't want to be without you two either," he admitted, every ounce of his loyalty displayed in those nine little words. Tiki felt her firmness melt away, to be replaced by pity. Poor guy: he was tearing himself apart trying to be there for everyone. Tiki hoped that ZanYi truly appreciated just how much Shun did for her. Tiki herself appreciated it very much.
The tiny airbender let out a long sigh, the gust causing her bangs to fly up, her arrow exposed. Ducking out from under Shun's hand, Tiki turned an entreating gaze onto the Avatar. "Syaoran… how would you feel about taking your airbending training on the road?" Tiki asked delicately. Although leaving the peace she had known the past month behind caused her some trepidation, she did not want to cause pain by forcing Shun to choose between them and ZanYi. They were a family, like Syaoran had said, and families had to stay together, no matter what. Tiki would miss her aunt, her cousins, and the island, but she could not live the rest of her life in fear, or nothing would get done. Life was too short to live the rest of it in regret.
He sighed. So much for trying to be smart about all of this. That meant it was two on one right now—Syaoran had to think that ZanYi would be indifferent. If Tiki had refused to leave, this would be so much easier, but now…
Syaoran looked at Shun, seeing the torn look on his face. Giving up ZanYi or not, the Avatar was not over her, and it didn't erase the betrayal he felt from Shun. But it was significantly less when the betrayal wasn't heightened by the threatened feeling of Shun's feelings. And it would be a lie to say that he didn't want to follow ZanYi, make sure she got to her brother all right…
It was impossible not to cave.
"All right," he agreed reluctantly. "Team Avatar is going back on the road."
There was no way they couldn't. ZanYi was a force all her own; she wouldn't change her mind once its set. And Shun loved her… the waterbender loved her. Yet he was still trying not to leave Tiki and him behind. If he didn't do this to keep the team together, everything they had all gone through would be for a waste, to let their unit split up.
"She's already packing, isn't she?"
"I'll be surprised if she hasn't already left," Shun grumbled, looking anxious once again. "We should go grab our stuff too. Tiki, I'll try and hold ZanYi up a little, just so you get a chance to say goodbye to your family."
Goodbye. Right. Tiki bit her lip, trying not to think of the tear-fest this might turn into. But Tiki could not stay on the island forever. She had been with Syaoran in the beginning of his journey as the Avatar, and she was determined to see it through. Her aunt and cousins would understand.
"You're leaving?!" YinLi, Ping, Pai and Sho chorused together in disbelief. They were just starting breakfast when Tiki had entered the kitchen to break the news to them. Needless to say, they were none-too-happy about her imminent departure.
"Tiki, you can't leave," Ping said, his eyebrows furrowing, "What about the kids, the dojo?"
"You're doing a great job on your own, Ping," Tiki pointed out.
"What about Kei?" YinLi insisted, as if said man was not present in the kitchen as well, after hearing the commotion from the living room.
"He's free to go home whenever he wants," Tiki asserted, though her resolve was beginning to waver now.
"Tiki, don't go!" Pai and Sho wailed, each of them attaching themselves to Tiki's legs. The tiny airbender sighed. This was not going well at all.
"Look, I love you guys," she began, prying her younger cousins off of her shins, "but I need to go now. ZanYi, Shun, Syaoran and I—we're a team. I don't even think I'd still be alive if it weren't for them. Aunt Li, I appreciate your hospitality more than I can say, but it's time for us to go. I need to finish what I started."
The determined spark in Tiki's gray eyes was not to be denied. Still, YinLi did not want to give up. She approached her niece, tears beginning to gather in her motherly eyes. "Tiki, please don't go," she begged, placing her hands on Tiki's shoulders. "This is your home. You belong here."
And deeper went the knife. Tiki could feel her own tears beginning to form, but she still managed a small smile aimed at her aunt. "Well… the good thing about home is that I can always come back… right?" she asked hopefully. YinLi returned her smile, embracing Tiki tightly.
"Of course, Sweetheart. Come back whenever you can. We'll miss you."
Tiki sniffled, her eyes wet as she hugged YinLi back. "I'll miss you too, Auntie."
"Be safe, Tiki," Ping bade his older cousin, coming around the table to hug Tiki as well.
"We'll mish you!" Sho lisped, hugging Tiki's leg again while her brother, who was trying his hardest not to cry, stood beside her with a stoic expression on his face.
The whole display had Shun's heart aching as he stood in the doorway. This was his fault. If he had just agreed to stay on the island with Tiki and Syaoran, Tiki would not be sharing a tear-filled goodbye with her real family. It wasn't fair.
Once Tiki had disengaged herself from the mob of hugs, rubbing impatiently at her eyes, Shun blocked her exit.
"Tiki—"
"Don't start," Tiki said severely, leveling a glare at Shun, "I've already made up my mind. Don't say anything that will make my tears worth nothing."
Shun shut his mouth per Tiki's request, allowing her to pass by in the process. She managed to get all the way down the stairs of the porch before another voice called her back.
"Tiki, wait!"
Tiki turned. Kei was rushing after her, Lili swaying on his shoulder. Misreading the look on his face, Tiki reached for her lemur. "Oh, sorry, Kei. I almost forgot Lili was with you."
Kei diverted the hands that reached for Lili, taking Tiki's small hands into his calloused ones instead. "Let me come with you," he requested unexpectedly. Tiki stared up at him, as if Kei had just randomly started speaking a different language.
"Oh… I don't think you can, Kei," Tiki said uncertainly.
"Why not?" Kei immediately challenged. Tiki bit her lip, clearly out of her element. What would ZanYi say to the nonbender wanting to go with them to meet her brother, a high-ranking officer in the Resistance military?
"Well, you're—"
"Have I given you any reason not to trust me?"
"No…"
"Then why can't I go?"
"Because… it'll be dangerous, Kei. I don't even know what I'm getting into, really, so to have you come along—"
"I want to be with you, Tiki," Kei cut in, his hazel gaze intense upon Tiki's wide eyes. "Please, don't leave me behind."
Tiki was clearly flustered, her cheeks becoming rosy. She had not anticipated this at all. Why in the world would Kei want to be with her if it meant possibly being put in harm's way? She didn't understand him. "Kei—" she tried again, searching frantically in her mind for something—anything—that would dissuade the nonbender from wanting to tag along. But Kei had dropped her hands and was now holding her face, his eyes locked onto hers so that she was unable to look anywhere else.
"Please."
That was the only word Kei spoke, but Tiki's resistance was already gone. Managing to look away for just a second, she searched for the eyes of her team, wanting to know what they thought. The tiny airbender already had a good idea what the answer might be, but she could not bring herself to make this decision on her own. It had to be a majority vote from Team Avatar.
"No."
ZanYi put her answer simply and a bit irritably. She knew what Tiki was asking with that glance and the lieutenant did not like it at all. She'd been against Kei from the beginning. He hadn't posed a threat. And then he was suddenly the son of a mob boss, and apparently had taken the news of Syaoran's identity quite badly. The fact was that ZanYi did not trust Kei anywhere near as far as she could throw him. The gun, locked and loaded, in her pocket was a reminder of that. So taking Kei to a Resistance base—where it would already be shady if she were found there—was absolutely out of the question.
Syaoran looked away from the lieutenant and saw Tiki's glance. He held his hands up, shaking his head. "Don't you pin this vote on me again," the Avatar insisted, frowning a bit at the thought. He was tired of being the swing vote.
Tiki sighed. Shun was steadfastly not looking at her, apparently wishing to avoid the subject rather than put in his two cents. The party had spoken, she supposed.
"Sorry, Kei," she began sadly, but it seemed as if Kei was not ready to take no for an answer. Slinging an arm casually around Tiki's shoulder, the nonbender turned to face the rest of Team Avatar, his expression all business.
"Come on, Lieutenant," Kei addressed ZanYi, "don't you think you're being a little prejudiced?"
"Kei!" Tiki squeaked in fear. Was he crazy? Was he unaware of the fact that ZanYi could very easily rip out his esophagus and feed it to him? Or did he simply have a death wish?
Kei paid no attention to Tiki's protest—he had eyes only for ZanYi, because she was the toughest nut he would have to crack. "Think about it—I've done nothing to threaten you all since I've been here. I even saved you from a Neo-Equalist raid. Can't I get a little credit for that? Yeah, I know I freaked when I found out that Syaoran was the Avatar, but can you blame me? It's kind of a big deal… and I already told Syaoran I was sorry. You can ask him."
"…He did apologize," Tiki admitted to his credit, though she muttered under her breath, "though he said a bunch of other stuff I'm still waiting for an apology on…"
Kei, the only one close enough to hear, winked at her. "If you suspect me of an ulterior motive, trust me, I don't blame you. But I don't have any hidden agenda." Kei's hand slid from Tiki's shoulder down to her waist, pulling her into his side. "I just want to stay with Tiki. That's all."
Tiki looked up at him, flattered and confused. They had gotten close in the two weeks that they had known each other, but Tiki couldn't fathom just what was so special about herself that made Kei want to stay with her. Maybe Kei had a few screws loose after all.
Shun watched the scene unfold, an eyebrow quirked. Kei was acting a little too friendly with Tiki for Shun's liking, but he said nothing: Tiki was old enough to handle herself, and she was not so naive as to fall for a bad guy… he hoped. But this conversation was getting nowhere. "ZanYi," the giant waterbender spoke up, deciding to prod her, just a little. "Aren't we in a hurry…?" Shun was not going to take sides on this issue, because he was still reserving judgment on Kei. But if the nonbender turned out to be no good, what better place to have him than on a base full of military personnel who could take him down faster than he could make a call to his father? If Kei did end up coming along, Shun felt that they had nothing to worry about, personally… besides the fact that the nonbender's prolonged presence would put ZanYi on edge 24/7. But it was nothing Shun couldn't handle… again, he hoped.
ZanYi crossed her arms, downright glaring at Kei. It was very few occasions that she admired such guts to stand up to her. This was not one of those times. Too many lives were at stake riding on this for that. Flickering her eyes over to Syaoran, the lieutenant lifted a brow, asking silently for verification of Kei's words. Syaoran nodded. "He apologized," he said, albeit reluctantly. The idea of Kei coming with them was not assuring. Ever since the incident, Syaoran was not on the nonbender's side. And it was going to stay that way if the guy didn't learn his place and keep off of Tiki.
So the Avatar was certainly happy when the lieutenant jerked her head over at Kei. More than happy to oblige, Syaoran pried Kei's hand from Tiki's waist and tugged the airbender back to stand with him.
Slowly ZanYi strode over to the man. "I'm going to go over the rules again," she started, never leaving his eyes. "Give me any reason to distrust you or even think your mere presence has potential to bring danger to anyone, I kill you. You will not be given a weapon of any kind. You will be blindfolded until we reach our destination and I figure out what to do with you next. And if anything happens at all while you're with us—"
Her eyes almost seem to spark with a deadly flame, gravely serious. "—I will personally make sure your last moments will make you feel like you're in hell. Understood?"
Kei paled a little, but his face was calm enough when he looked ZanYi straight in the eye and responded, "Got it."
"Well it's settled, then," Tiki announced, the tension crackling in the air making her awfully uneasy. Pulling away from Syaoran to rejoin Kei's side, she took her lemur from his shoulder before moving to Shun. "Shun, do you have a pen and a pad of paper in your satchel? I need to send a letter."
"To whom?" Shun asked, retrieving the items Tiki requested and handing them to her.
"Uncle Kaze. I need to let him know not to send me letters for a while. Here, turn around," the tiny airbender requested. Shun did as she asked, and she used the small of his back to scrawl a hasty letter announcing her absence, and how she would send another letter when she could resume correspondence. Pulling the ribbon from the top of her blouse—she didn't need it, considering she had no cleavage to hide—Tiki tied the letter onto Lili's leg.
"I know you just got back, Lili, but I need you to do this for me," Tiki asked of the lemur, staring into those large green eyes she had known since childhood. "Take this letter home. You remember where home is, right?"
Lili seemed to understand, for she nudged Tiki's cheek with her nose before taking flight, flapping her wings and gliding around before heading off in the direction of the horizon, the brightness of the sun blotting her out long before she was gone. Tiki watched her go, the urge to cry resurfacing. There was no time for that, however, and Tiki turned to the rest of Team Avatar—plus Kei.
"Okay, let's go," she urged. "I'll go get Bumi." Tiki was prepped to run off when she remembered that Kei would be left all alone with ZanYi and Syaoran while she was gone. Tiki didn't like that thought. Taking pity on the poor nonbender, Tiki grabbed his hand and tugged him along behind her. "Here, come with me. I'll show you what a sky bison looks like!"
"Oh, uh… cool?" Kei responded uncertainly, allowing himself to be dragged along behind Tiki. She didn't seem to mind his company at all, which was a very, very good thing for Kei.
As soon as they were out of sight, Syaoran said, "I don't like this." ZanYi watched after them for a moment, still frowning. She didn't like it at all either.
"Don't worry, Syaoran," the lieutenant did tell him though, picking up her bag from the ground to sling over her shoulder. "He even thinks of something, and he's a dead man." If Kei was afraid of her, he didn't want Zaron to get his hands on the nonbender or, worse, both Tsongs on him.
Syaoran continued to scowl. It still seemed to him that Kei was skating by a bit easily. For crying out loud, the nonbender only had Tiki openly on his side for the most part, and yet he'd managed to find a way to come along to a Resistance base. Kei had managed to get past ZanYi. Though, when the Avatar thought about, it could be that because there was a greater chance of scaring Kei or having a reason to do anything to him if the guy was surrounded by trained military benders.
"Still don't like it…" he mumbled.
ZanYi ignored him, merely waiting for the sky bison to show up. Her fingers strummed against the strap of her bag impatiently. The lieutenant wanted to be gone. Far gone. Gathering the whole team had taken too much time.
There was a screech as Xie Xie landed on her shoulder, a sentinel. "You're going to show us where to go, aren't you? Take us to Zar?" she asked the dragonhawk. When the bird nuzzled its beak up to her cheek, ZanYi was assured.
"Behold: Lieutenant ZanYi Tsong, the tamer of beasts," Shun quipped, still a little sore that the dragonhawk had tried to take a chunk out of him. Normally animals loved him… or feared him, depending on the size ratio. Either way, the giant waterbender could not help but take it personally. Maybe Xie Xie just liked firebenders, being a native bird from the Fire Nation. A couple minutes later, Bumi landed solidly in front of Syaoran, ZanYi and Shun. He had a restless look about him, as if the sky bison had been grounded too long and was yearning for the skies once again. Tiki sat at the reigns, with a slightly stunned-looking Kei beside her.
"All aboard!" Tiki called with a grin. Without hesitation, Shun pulled himself into the riding basket with ease, turning to reach down for the next boarder. ZanYi and Syaoran could probably get in by themselves, but as the impatient look on ZanYi's face implied, they were in a hurry. ZanYi nodded to Syaoran, and the Avatar reached up to take Shun's hand and pull himself up into the basket. The young man wanted to separate Tiki from Kei, but alas he could not without risking pushing the nonbender off of the bison, which would detain them even longer. Therefore: not an option. He planted himself the edge of the basket closest to the front, though, essentially right near their backs. No matter how Tiki felt, Syaoran was going to keep an eye on Kei.
On the ground, ZanYi had reached up to take Shun's hand to climb up. Seeing the tight grip the waterbender had on the lieutenant's hand, Xie Xie gave out an angry squawk. Before the dragonhawk could do anything, however, ZanYi promptly gave his beak a slight tap. "Stop," was all she said, and the beast silenced itself, though it was certainly giving Shun a look as the man pulled ZanYi up into the basket. Clearly Xie Xie was not about to forget that Shun had grabbed his owner.
Leaning down, ZanYi fished out a bandana from her bag and tossed it over to Shun. "Tie it around his eyes," she ordered. If Kei was going to go with them, he wouldn't be allowed to know where the base was. Part of the 'agreement'—it was more like a stated threat.
Catching it, Syaoran turned around to cover Kei's eyes with it, tying it quite tightly and roughly. "Ow!" Kei protested, unable to help himself. Tiki turned to glare at Syaoran before smacking his hands away.
"Stop it! He's not a prisoner!" Tiki scolded, reaching over to re-tie the bandana around Kei's eyes, making it snug but gentle. If she had her way, Tiki would not have Kei blindfolded at all. However, the tiny airbender knew how to pick her battles, and this was one she would not win.
"Thanks, Tiki," Kei sighed, turning his head in her direction, "I appreciate your gentle touch a lot."
"You're welcome," Tiki said simply, the implications of Kei's words flying over her head. She proceeded to loop an arm through Kei's before gripping the reigns again. "Make sure you stay as still as you can, okay? We don't want you falling off." Tiki shot Syaoran and ZanYi a look as she said this, as if to discourage them from getting any ideas. Facing forwards again, Tiki gave the reigns a yank. "Bumi: yip yip!"
As they became airborne, ZanYi was forced back into Shun's side—unfortunately, Xie Xie was occupying the shoulder nearest Shun, and the dragonhawk shrieked and snapped its beak at the giant waterbender. Shun eyed the bird as if it had just started insulting his mother. "What did I ever do to you?" he asked of the bird with a frown. Really, was there any reason for the dragonhawk to be behaving this way? It wasn't as if Shun had threatened to deep-fry it and serve it for dinner… although a much less patient side of Shun was starting to consider it.
ZanYi gave a small smack to Xie Xie's beak again, stern. But this time she couldn't actually fault the animal. Besides, that dragonhawk had never really taken to just about anyone, hence why its loyalty was even stronger to her and her brother. "Don't mind him, Shun. He does that to everybody," she brushed the waterbender off.
"ZanYi," Tiki called back as the island below them began to get smaller and smaller, "where are we going?"
The lieutenant answered, "We're letting Xie Xie take lead." Even despite the encryption, Zaron had refused to give the location. Only the dragonhawk could take them to him and the sergeant major knew the bird would only do it for ZanYi. The lieutenant clicked her tongue and pushed her shoulder up. Swooping low enough Syaoran had to duck his head, Xie Xie sped up to the front with strong strokes of its wings. "Follow him," ZanYi said, not moving at all from Shun's side.
Syaoran noticed and had to look away, the feelings he was trying so hard to avoid rising up his throat. However, that left him to Tiki and Kei to look at. Swell. But that he could handle. Because he was going to make sure that nothing happened to Tiki, and that Kei didn't try anything fishy. After all, they were team, they were a family, and this is what friends do.
A/N from Eva: Talk about a fifth wheel. (Avoids bullets) I'm just kidding! And again, I will say it: poor Syaoran. XP But look at that! Stuff's happening, and we're finally leaving Air Temple Island! A new arc is beginning, with new adventures, new problems, and of course, new drama! Also, get real used to Xie Xie. He's going to be around for a while. XD
Same Guest: Your name is still funny. XD Indeed, the calm is now over, and the storm is picking back up! You had a lot of predictions in your review, some of which have come true already in this chapter! I hope you were satisfied! ;D Keep reading!
Sorry this chapter is a little late, but hey, at least you have one this week! DJ and I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week! Thanks as always for reading and supporting us, and we'll see you next week!