Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited the last chapter. I got some good responses so I decided to keep going. This is really fun to write... hehe, I totally procrastinated my college english paper to write it... and then paid for it by having to say up into the wee hours of the morning to get if finished.
Okay... so just a random bit of info. All these people in the story turn out to be someone important to the people in the Avatar-verse that we know... see if you can figure it out. :D
Enjoy the next instalment of The Story Behind the Story.
Proven Rumors
Mei woke slowly, relaxed by the soothing movements of Yang underneath her.
The sun was just coming up over the horizon and Zephyr was already up and watching it. It was one of his traditions. Because his bending was tied with the sun he rose and slept with it and always woke to watch the sunrise from the roof of the air temple.
Mei frowned, reminded suddenly of the terrible events that had taken place the night before. She had to stay positive though, "Good morning, Zephyr!"
He grunted in reply, this morning's grunt was less disheartened than the one last night, so Mei knew he was going to be okay. He would take some time to heal, but she had given him some hope last night. She had been worried about that.
"How'd you sleep?"
He didn't answer for a moment, "not terrible, but not so good either."
"I understand," she said comfortingly as she re-packed the blankets. Looking over the side of the saddle she spotted ground, "somewhere over the southeastern coast of the Earth Kingdom," she muttered, "it's a good as spot as any to land," she hopped over the front of the saddle and landed on Yang's head, "let's find a village boy, and stop there for a while."
Yang made a tired noise of approval, Mei smiled, "you slacker! You flew twice this fast to get to the Southern Temple and for twice as long! You're not that tired!" Yang made another grunting noise, sounding almost indignant, Mei giggled.
They flew for only a few more minutes before Yang started descending. When he landed in an open field he immediately plopped onto his belly. This elicited a laugh from Mei and a slight smile from Zephyr.
"There's a small village just through the trees over there," Mei pointed to the northwest, "I've got money so we can go and get something to eat and then continue on."
"Okay," Zephyr looked about to say something else before he paused, "hey, Mei?"
"Yeah?" she asked as she jumped off her bison.
He copied the action and landed next to her, "where did they tell you to take me? I mean… if I'm banished from the Air Temples… where am I supposed to go?"
Mei paused in her walk, looking up at her tall friend she sighed, "well, you're not banned from all the temples just yet. Word hasn't gotten around quite as fast as we can. At any rate they said that a small village somewhere in the Earth Kingdom would be good."
"You mean like this one?" he asked begrudgingly, staring through the trees at the still-sleepy Earth Kingdom village.
"No!" Mei protested, "I'm not going to just leave you somewhere, no matter what the monks told me! You're my best friend!"
"Mei. If you don't show up at one of the temples sometime they'll start to worry."
"So let them worry. I can't just leave a defenseless little fire-bender like you out alone in the big bad world."
"Hey! I'm not that defenseless!" he countered, "I can fire-bend as you just pointed out!"
Mei raised an eyebrow, "yeah… a fire-bender trained in the ways of the air-nomads is real dangerous."
"Just because my bending is a little unstable and has a tendency to blow up in my face-"
"-literally," Mei added with a smirk, "and on the walls and other people-"
"Shut up!" Zephyr couldn't help but grin as she dodged his mock-shove, "it's your dumb air-bending moves that don't work for fire-bending that's the problem!"
"Oh yeah!" she replied laughing, "that's all my fault now, is it?"
"Yes!" while they had been talking they had been moving toward the village, several early-risers heard their playful banter, and tried to find the source of the noise.
When they spotted two strangers dressed in Air Nomad clothing they shied away from them.
Mei was the first to notice the tense atmosphere and quickly stopped laughing, "Something's not right."
Zephyr looked around, "what is it? What's wrong?"
Mei narrowed her silver-blue eyes at a man who had spotted them and hastily closed the shutter he'd been spying from, "people are usually much friendlier to traveling Air Nomads, can't you feel the fear in the air?"
Zephyr shook his head, "no. I've never been out of the temple, remember? But now that you mention it…" he looked around as well and started to see the subtle indications of a village living in fear.
There were no children playing in the streets, shops and vending carts were boarded up and in disrepair, very few people roamed the streets, and when anyone caught sight of the two friends they quickly walked in the other direction.
"I wonder what's going on…" Mei looked around the village with a critical eye, "well, only one way to find out."
With Zephyr following her lead she walked up to a house and knocked politely on the door. It was a few moments before anyone answered.
The door opened only partially, "yes, hello?"
"Hello, I was wondering if you could help me?" Mei asked kindly, trying not to scare away the kind-looking woman at the door.
"I… I don't know…"
"I only was wondering if you could tell me about what's going on here, why is everyone hiding?"
The woman stared at Mei and Zephyr for a long time, particularly Zephyr, eyeing his hair and eyes finally landing to his clothes, but eventually she opened the door a little wider, "quickly, come in."
The two friends did just that.
"I'm sorry for the suspicion," she said, inviting them to sit at the table as she set out some bread.
"No problem," Mei replied, "with the way this village is I would think you have a good reason?"
The woman nodded, "yes, but first my name is Lei. I am wondering what two Air Nomads are doing passing through the village."
"I'm MeiLin and this is my friend Zephyr. We're headed up to the Northern Air Temple from the South and were just stopping for food. But it appears there is something bigger going on here. Perhaps we may be able to help?"
Lei looked back at the door, as if expecting someone to come bursting in at any moment, "I was hoping you could, that's the reason I took the chance of inviting you in."
Mei and Zephyr shared a look.
"Even the Air Nomads must have heard rumors of the Fire Nation starting a war with the other nations, correct?"
Zephyr's golden eyes darkened, "yes, that's part of the reason for our travels," Mei could sense his anger and placed a comforting hand on his arm before looking back to Lei.
"Well they're not rumors," she looked at them seriously, "the Fire Nation does intend to start a war with the other's. But only small villages like this know it. They are watching us, using our village as a post, leaving soldiers in encampments just outside the visible range through the trees. But the worst part is that they're attacking anyone who dares protest… especially benders."
"So that's why no one was out when we came."
"And you're entirely lucky you came when you did!" Lei said seriously, "you came right from the direction they usually camp! But they switch out battalions every few weeks, leaving only guards on the travelled roads in and out of the city, stopping anyone who dare try to send word out of their presence."
"How long does the switching last? Maybe we can get out word to Ba Sing Sei before they arrive so someone can stop them," Mei speculated.
"There is only a few hours between battalions," Lei warned, "and they can see far into the sky from their clearing, so if you came on flying bison, as you Air Nomads travel, you'd have to get away without them seeing you."
Mei suddenly froze, "Lei," she whispered, her voice with a barely controlled tremble, "how long ago did they leave this time?"
"A few hours! That's why I said you were lucky."
"And they always camp in a clearing, in the direction we came from?"
"Not always, but most of the time," Lei replied, not sure where the conversation was heading.
Zephyr suddenly caught on, "Yang!" he stood, heading toward the door, Mei grabbed his arm.
"Thank you for letting us know about the situation, Lei," she said also standing, "we'll get word to the capital. We'll stop at Omashu on our way up, it's closer and they can send help faster."
"Thank you," Lei watched them leave.
"We'll get you help, I promise," Zephyr said, as Mei nodded.
As soon as they were out the door they were running back to where they had left Yang. When they reached the edge of the village they heard a large roar, a Flying Bison only sounded like that if they were in trouble, and smaller shouts from men.
Mei's eyes narrowed and the wind, seemingly without her conscious thought, picked up from behind her and gave her an extra burst of speed.
"Mei!" Zephyr called as she sped ahead, "You can't take them all alone!"
She either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him, Zephyr ran faster.
-
Mei was livid when she arrived at the clearing. Caravans bearing the Fire Nation symbol were stopped along the edge with no warriors around to be seen. But casting her eyes to the other end of the clearing she saw her beloved Yang backed up against the tree-line, bellowing at the advancing Fire Nation soldiers.
Jumping high into the air she landed between her bison and the fire-benders, "I suggest you leave now," she said calmly, though her mind was far from it.
The soldiers hesitated; they hadn't expected the owner of the bison to return any time soon obviously.
"And if we don't?" one asked, his uniform was slightly more decorated than the rest, Mei assumed he was a leader of some sort.
"Then you have to deal with me," she replied.
"Well, we can't just let you leave to tell anyone that we're here, can we?" the man asked, a hint of malice threaded into his words, he gave a signal to his men to attack and twenty men advanced with fire balls ready in their hands.
Before they got two paces a whirlwind ripped through the clearing, scattering them, and air was sucked away from their hands, dissipating their fire.
"I do not want to have to hurt you."
"I'm afraid it's us who's going to have to hurt you little air-bender," one of the soldiers said.
"I'm 18 thank you!" she replied as she dodged fire balls and deflected them with blasts of air.
"Mei!" Mei turned at the sound of her name.
"Zephyr!" she yelled, suddenly fearful for her friend, "No!"
Zephyr ran into the clearing, ready to fight in an air-bending stance.
"Oh look! Another little air-bender!"
While their attention was drawn to Zephyr Mei took the opportunity to launch herself up into the saddle of her bison and grab her staff. While the jumped down she called out: "Yang! Yip yip!"
The bison took flight, and Mei joined the fighting, disabling any Fire Nation soldier who dared even threaten to turn and fire on her bison.
"Zephyr! Quick!" she called out, reaching his side and snapping the glider open, "Let's get out of here!"
They ran in a direction that was relatively clear of soldiers and Mei propelled the glider into the air, Zephyr grabbed onto the back of it as they took off. They had practiced flying like this since they were young and had a lot of experience balancing together, so it was relatively easy to get the glider to turn in the direction where Yang and taken off too.
"Mei!" Zephyr yelled over the wind in their ears, "Left…. Now!" She called a wind from the right to push them over just as a fire ball flew past, "Right!" a gust from the left pushed them back out of the way from another one.
When they finally were out of fire-shot they had nearly caught up to Yang, "Yang!" Mei called to him. The bison recognized her voice and slowed down a bit so they could land in the saddle.
Mei closed her orange glider, a brand new gift from the monks of the Southern Air Temple, luckily it hadn't been damaged.
"Yang, are you okay?" Mei asked, landing lightly on the bison's head, he gave a moan of affirmation. Mei only found one spot of singed fur on him and it was only his fur, she patted his head, "you did good boy."
Leaping back into the saddle she looked Zephyr over, "What about you Zephyr?"
"Oh," he joked, "less important than Yang now, am I?"
"Quiet," she smiled lightly, "he's our only ride, you on the other hand can't fly without help," she picked at his arms, looking for any burnt spots, "and stabilizing a glider with two people on it is harder than it looks. I'm a bit worn out here."
"Yeah… sorry," Zephyr replied.
"It's not your fault," Mei winced lightly as she moved her arm back to her side.
It was only then that Zephyr noticed the burnt clothing and skin on her upper arm, "Mei! When did that happen!?" he sat her down forcefully and grabbed the first aid kit from the pack at the back of the saddle.
"When we were flying just now," she replied, "I didn't quite get us far enough left. Luckily it didn't hit the glider, or we wouldn't have been able to keep flying. I figured better my arm than the glider."
"Mei… sometimes I wonder about your priorities," Zephyr sighed, gently taking her arm in his hands, "sleeve off," she helped him pull up the sleeve on her arm so he could properly dress the burn.
He put some healing salve on the burn and wrapped it in bandages, gently replacing her sleeve, "Thanks Zephyr."
"No problem," he replied, she hugged him before ruffling his hair affectionately, "how long to Omashu?" he asked.
"Only a few hours," she replied, "but once we're there we need to get an audience with the king, that could take days…" Mei rubbed her brow, "he's a nice enough guy, but he does everything by the book to a T. I hope he can make an exception just this once."
"I'm sure he will," Zephyr sounded optimistic, Mei grinned at him.
They passed the time resting in comfortable silence; Zephyr actually forced Mei to get some sleep to help her arm heal even though she insisted she wasn't tired.
As the tall, mountain-like city approached Zephyr stared in wonder, having never seen the city and not ever quite grasped the scale of any of the drawings he'd seen.
"It's amazing, Mei!"
"Just wait till you see the mail delivery system," she laughed, "I think you'll like it."
Yang slowly descended as they reached the outer limits of the city. A sense of urgency now filled the air.
They needed to see the king, and fast.
A war was coming.
Well there you go! Leave a review for mistakes, things that could be better, what you liked, any suggestions for the story. as long as the reviews keep coming I'll keep writing. :D
Another character is coming in to join the group next chapter! Stay tuned!