Kyana
He'd taken the bait. This should be a huge victory, but part of me actually regretted taking advantage of him like that. Granted, it was a really small part, but still a part. Nonetheless, I was taking Zane to Africa, like now. When we were back under the lake, I took a look at the map and put an 'X' on the coordinates of the Vault of the Firelord. I wasn't sure how I felt about swimming almost six thousand miles to the coast of Africa in denim shorts. So I wore sports shorts instead.
We began on what would be the easiest park of the trip. Getting from Republic City to the Atlantic Ocean. Zane and I had enough money between us to take a one-way train across the continent. But I spent most of that time resting. The next part of the journey would rely solely on me.
At some point I woke up, to talk to Zane for a quick second.
"Zane, you can still use seismic sense, right?"
"Yeah, why couldn't I?"
"Just making sure."
That would be helpful. Just as I was about to tell Zane to grab his things so we could get off the train, a thought occurred to me.
I still need the key from the Monk's Vault. I'll bet that airbender knows where it is. "We should go to the earth vault first. We need to meet Zero and his friend again in Africa."
"Good thinking, but you really think he's stupid enough to go there?"
"Don't you?"
"Good point, but I wouldn't underestimate him. He may fit the dumb rich kid stereotype, but he might have a few tricks up his sleeve."
Yeah, well I have a few tricks of my own. "Not a problem. We should get going."
"You know, I've never really wanted to go to China."
"Well you're out of luck," I broke the bad but obvious news to him, "That's where we're heading."
I gotta admit, the travel there wasn't as horrible as I thought it'd be. But still horrible we waited near the beach until nightfall, grabbed us a small boat, then used I my bending to get us out to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean in a matter of hours, where Zane found a small uninhabited island. My bending was powerful, even more so with the moon, but I wasn't Wonder Woman. That continuous effort took more out of me than expected.
"I can't believe we're only a quarter of the way there."
Zane looked at me. "China is on the other side of the world, Kyana. You should sleep because I'll expect you to have a plan."
"Why me?"
"Because you're the plan person. Duh."
Guess I'll just dream a plan up then.
Whatever supernatural thing happened in my mind that night was a miracle, because when I woke up next to Zane that morning, I actually had a plan. Granted, it probably wasn't a very good one, nor one that I wanted to share with Zane but a plan.
"Morning, sunshine," Zane said, noticing I was awake.
"Don't call me that."
First thing in the morning and Zane was already bothering me. This would be a very long day. But I'd need put that aside, and focus on us getting to solid land.
It had taken almost the entire next day, and night to get us to England. We'd now journeyed all the way from the west coast where Republic City was, to the East coast, and across the Atlantic ocean. With not much rest, and limited food. All crammed into a time frame of about two and a half days or so.
I crashed out for I don't know how long, while Zane took over the travel arrangements. Eventually, I woke up to find that I was on a very small train car made of earth. Zane's bending propelled us forward on the tracks. He stopped once he noticed I was awake.
"So about that plan, we should stop and hear it."
We were in France by the time he actually remembered I was supposed to have that.
"So basically," I started to explain, glad that I hadn't forgotten since yesterday morning, "When we get to the Vault in China, you're the main force to get the key. I'll only help if you need me, which you shouldn't," I shot him a look that said 'and you better not'.
"Then head back to..." I looked at the small sheet of paper with the location of the Firelord's Vault, "Tunisia. And there we wait until Zero and his friend show up. When they do, I'm not exactly sure what I'll pull. He won't trust my emotion stunts, and I feel like he won't show up until mid-day, unless he really is that stupid, so that rules out any torture with bloodbending. But when I get him to join us, we'll be able to get the key. That airbender shouldn't be too hard to get the key from, even if I'll hate every moment of it. And then we have everything we need to find the Vault of the Avatar."
Before Zane had a chance to reply, a girl a little older than me approached us.
"Pardon, mademoiselle. Puis-je vous aider?"
"Non, merci."
"Est-ce que vous certain?"
"Ouai."
When she walked away, Zane was free to discuss my plan with me.
"That was weird."
"Yeah, well French people are weird."
"So anyway," he continued, "that's all right, but you're forgetting one thing."
"What's that?"
"How do we get to China? If you expect me to continue bending us all the way there and get the key, that will be a problem."
Dammit. "I'll have to l find some water around here." Wait. "The Danube River. You can get us there then I can get us at least to the Caspian Sea, if not further. Sound like a plan?"
He nodded. Guess I'd be in for some sort of adventure within the next 24 hours.
Once we got to the Caspian Sea, it wasn't long before I noticed Zane was slipping mentally.
"Pull it together."
"Is it so bad that I'm tired? I told you I'd help you. I've come across that Atlantic to help you even. Don't push it."
Don't push it. I heard it twice, one from Zane, and one echo in my brain. He might've been the only person in existence who could say that to me and live to tell the story. So I let it go, went back to remaining silent.
We stopped off for about 2 hours, but then I convinced Zane to bend us into China. Xinjiang, to be exact. He basically already knew where the vault was, I didn't ask how, and wasted no time, refusing to bend on the final leg there.
Walking was for non-benders, though, when earthbending was an option, it felt even slower by comparison. I didn't push my luck with him, however, and at some point, we finally got to the entrance of the vault after a seriously long journey.
When Zane stepped up to the edge of a flowing river, I thought he was insane.
"This is a waterfall, Zane."
"Which is why nobody would suspect the Earth King's Vault."
They might suspect a different vault, though, and then the same problem would still happen.
"Mind opening this thing up," he asked.
I did just that, and through the gap in the fall revealed a huge shrine deep into the side of the cliff. As we approached, I saw two massive badgermoles, quickly headed our way.
At least I finally get a challenge. Thank God the moon is up.
