Brothers Avatar

The Legend of Two Avatars

Book 1 – Family

Chapter 20 – Disguises pt. 2

Taresc finally arrived at the inn where Team Avatar was staying at. He took off the Stormbender coat lent to him and made his way down the hall, unraveling the bandages on his face. He opened the door to Lozulia's room and found the whole team packed in, including a visitor, a very Stormbender-y visitor.

"Taresc!" Lozulia jumped up from her bed and latched onto Taresc, "You didn't get killed! Good work, Tare!" Taresc was speechless as he looked at the girl casually sitting amongst the team, "What's wrong, babe?"

Taresc pointed at the girl, "Uhhhhh?"

"Hm?" Lozulia said looking at the girl as well, "Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce our new friend." Lozulia smacked her forehead, "Meet Fei-Rong."

"Nice to meet you." He said, "Taresc, Avatar's brother." Taresc laughed nervously, "Now, Loz, why exactly are we befriending the local Stormbenders?"

Minege chimed in, "She's here to help us."

"And we're just accepting it?" Taresc looked baffled as Rong shielded her eyes, "No chance of her being a spy?"

Pio sulked in the corner, "My inclination precisely."

"How exactly did this happen?" Taresc asked.

Lozulia began, "Well, I was just chilling in my room when I find this doll over here spying on me. Like any rational member of Team Avatar, I chased after her and tackled her to the ground. She then starts talking about how she wants a way out of the Stormbenders and to help us in any way she can."

Rong spoke up, "I've seen my people do so many bad things; I've even been a part of a few myself…" She looked to her lap shamefully, "I want to make it right!"

"Ugh." Pio grunted, "Such a conventional tale… I don't see how this is some unconquerable piece of evidence that says she's not just trying to lure us into a trap."

"I kinda have to agree with Pio." Taresc brought Lozulia aside, "Can we really trust her?"

"I was sent to scope this place out, just in case you guys came this way!" Rong defended her case, "I could've gone back and told them, but I didn't!"

Minege said, "Can't you hear the hero in her voice, honey?" Minege went over to Rong, "She yearns, Tare, she yearns!"

Taresc sighed, "Lozulia?"

"I just have this feeling deep down that we can trust her." Lozulia gave her puppy-dog eyes, "Please, Taresc."

"If that's how you feel…" Taresc looked at Fei-Rong, "I'll allow her to help."

The girls in the room cheered, while Pio glared from the corner, "I don't want to betray Aurut, but I'll do whatever I can!" Rong said.

"So how was your daytrip to The Northern Water Tribe?" Minege asked.

"Well I learned a couple things and I think that I have a plan… in fact, the inclusion of Fei-Rong makes things a little easier." Taresc delayed his big discovery, "And you know, I learned a couple of random things here and there. Like, the people of the Northern Water Tribe are really nice, great human beings all around." Everyone causally nodded at the mildly interesting piece of information, "Oh yeah, also random tidbit, RINLEY LEAD THE STORMBENDERS?"

"Really?" Pio seemed surprised while everyone took no astonishment.

"That was an interesting thing I learned on my travels…" Minege said.

Lozulia swayed, "You didn't know that? It's pretty commonplace info." She rebuked, "Did you know that Regille is Rinley's daughter?"

Pio jerked again at the new piece of info, "I learned that too today!" Taresc said, "I can't believe none of you told me."

"I just met you tonight." Rong said meekly.

"Not you, Fei-Rong." Taresc scolded, "I'm talking about these two and probably Ibera."

Lozulia smiled brightly, "Well you know now!"

"I'm waiting to hear this auspicious plan." Pio said impatiently. "Assuming your reconnaissance paid off."

Taresc brought everyone in close, "This isn't going to be an easy plan to pull off, and in fact it's far from perfect." The whole team looked at him nervously, "But I have no doubt, with our abilities, that we can pull it off."

"Well, go on." Minege said.

"Okay, here it is…"

Ibera sat in the bed, thinking about whether Xulo was able to make it to the rest of the team in time or did he end up getting caught. As he was about to ask a guard, two Stormbenders and Aurut came in escorting Xulo. A Stormbender opened the door and the other tossed Xulo in. "Don't try to escape again or I'll be forced to tell Regille and she does not like rebels." Aurut said.

"Regille's got a mean hand, I heard." Xulo overheard one Stormbender saying as they exited the prison, "She can break your neck just by slapping you."

Once they were gone, Ibera said, "That didn't take too long."

"You're telling me." Xulo said, "You didn't tell them, did you?"

"No!" Ibera seemed offended, "I was just lying on the floor and all of a sudden they're yelling for you. They pretty quickly figured out that you weren't a pile of sheets after that."

"This is so weird." Xulo said sitting on the box, "They also said I did a bunch of things I didn't do. Like I was talking to Avatar Rinley, pretending to be a Stormbender, talked to Aurut… just a bunch of random things…"

Ibera tilted his head, "That is odd."

"Not much use in thinking about it; I got caught and all I can do is hope that Taresc is thinking up a plan for us." Xulo was annoyed by his need to say that.

Taresc… Ibera thought to himself, beginning to suspect Xulo's brother. It would make sense for them to mistake the two for each other, but contacting Rinley is something only Xulo can do. "True, no use in wondering." But Ibera's mind continued to do so.

"Let's get some rest." Xulo said.

"Let's." Ibera said, "Tomorrow's going to be a big day, I can just feel it."

Xulo laughed, "It better be or we're in trouble."

The Traveling Variety Show was speeding down the Northern Tundra landscape in their festive looking carriage. Nearing the Northern Water Tribe they were limbering up inside in their colorful outfits. Aurut pays a pretty penny every year to get Wilner's company to come put a show on for his troops, so naturally Wilner's troupe was excited for their payday.

Suddenly though, their little caravan stopped in the middle of the road, wondering what had happened, Wilner got out to check on the camel-yaks that were pulling the carriage. What Wilner had found was that his camel-yaks were cut loose and running free, and in their place was a group of around ten or so people.

"The first part of our plan takes place outside of the Tribe." Taresc said as everyone huddled around in the inn's room, "There's a traveling circus of sorts that's coming to the Tribe tomorrow. We're going to have to steal their ride, because that's going to be our way in."

The group immediately began moving in on the carriage. They went around the back to tell the crew that they needed to get out and surrender their assets. "Alright folks, sorry to—" Pio said as a monstrous platypus-bear lurched from out of the carriage and headed right for Pio. "Oh goodness! What are you?" Pio dodged out of the way.

"Sic them, Weffu!" A cast member yelled. Weffu the platypus-bear was a sprawling beast with the bill of a platypus and the body of a bear. It was surprising that the beast seemed to fit in the carriage because it was taller than the wagon and also seemed wider.

Lozulia oohed at the beast, "Is that a platypus-bear!" She squealed, "I hear that they can eat a person whole!"

"Perfection!" Pio yelled as he was dodging Weffu's attacks. "Hey Taresc, don't you think you could have alluded to the giant harrowing varmint they were toting along?"

Taresc yelled back from the sidelines, "Weffu wasn't on the poster I saw; it must be a new addition."

"You can take it on, Pio," Lozulia said, "I'll be trying my best to take on these thespians." Lozulia said as she entered the carriage.

"Poor you, Zulia!" Pio said as Weffu tried to take a chomp out of his arm, "My heart goes out to you!" Pio bent a giant snowball at the animal's head, blinding him. "You know, I could really use some assistance."

"Ummm…" Taresc looked on nervously, fearing the possibility of getting involved, "I feel like Lozulia's going to havd trouble with the performers, I'm going to go help her."

Pio stared at him furiously, "Poltroon!" He yelled, but Taresc was already in the carriage. Pio was getting worn out by Weffu's dauntless attacks on him. He froze its ankles, but the beast broke free every time. "Minege?" He said out of breath.

Minege laughed, "Keep going, hun, this is really fun to watch."

"Minege!" Pio screamed harshly.

"Okay, okay, no need to get so bitter, I'll help." Minege put two fingers in her mouth and whistled; Tanton came running from around the snowbanks. Once Tanton saw the danger that was present, Tanton ran over to Pio. With her alligator tail, she slammed Weffu right in the stomach. Weffu grunted and hit the ground right on his back.

Pio was given a moment to breathe, "Thank you, Minege."

Taresc and Lozulia watched from the carriage as Weffu got to his feet. With anger apparent, he walked up right to Tanton's bill. Weffu winded back and let out a ferocious roar right in Tanton's face.

Tanton blinked with one eyes and then blinked with the other. She then shook her head to remove the saliva she accumulated from Weffu's roar. Without even needing to reel back, Tanton then let out a frightening quack that lasted twice as long as Weffu's did. It was very hard for everyone there in that moment, before Tanton's quack, to imagine a 'terrifying quack,' but afterwards they knew exactly what it sounded like.

Weffu had no response to the quack. He silently and obediently lay down and didn't seem like he wanted to bother anyone anymore. "Tanton." Pio went over to the duck, "You are a complete and utter savage." Tanton happily quacked at the compliment.

With Weffu out of the way, the team stripped the performers of their vibrant clothing and tied them up. Pio made them a nice little igloo in the middle of the tundra and Lozulia lit them a little fire. "Don't worry; we'll give you back your stuff once we're done." Lozulia said as Wilner glared at her.

"You're looking… good, Pio." Taresc said, trying to hold back his laughter.

The tight-fitting, bead-studded blue leotard clashed with Pio's downhearted frown, "You're far too eleemosynary." Pio said in sarcasm as Taresc tried to figure out what an eleemosynary was. "Are you going to put yours on?"

"Don't need to." Taresc said, wearing his Stormbender coat.

"Why is that?"

"It doesn't matter what I wear, if I show my face they'll know that I'm the Avatar's brother. So I'll just be out of sight the whole time."

Pio frowned further, "Was that a choice? Because I will jocundly take that option."

"Too late!" Lozulia appeared from behind, "Nice outfit." Lozulia said swishing around in her red gear. "Is that a girl's outfit?"

"Hm?" Pio looked at his outfit, "Oh come on, it is! Why do I always end up in the girl's clothing?" He said, "I thought it was just festively feminine just because that's how it is… Are there any other costumes?" Lozulia shook her head as she smiled deviously, "That's… that's exquisite."

Minege was hooking Tanton into the straps of the carriage so she can pull them to the Tribe, "Looks like Minege is almost done; let's get on."

"Now Fei-Rong, I'm hoping you're a good actress." Rong perked up, "Because while we are handling the traveling show, I need you to spark up a revolution in the Tribe."

A large group of Stormbenders were scattered around the throne room. A lot of preparations were needed to be made for Regille's arrival and Aurut was going to make sure that they happened.

Fei-Rong stood on the edge of the room, unnoticed by the busy workers. She never thought of herself as having a revolutionary-type personality. She always tried to get by as unnoticed as possible, but by the orders she was given, she had to make a scene. She filled her belly with courage and made her way over to the throne where Aurut was talking to a soldier, "General Aurut?"

"One second, Rong." He said.

"You want me to interrogate him, in front of everyone, about not being able to go to Wilner's?" Fei-Rong said in horror.

"Well it's either you or Pio, but I think that Aurut would be able to tell that Pio's not actually part of the Northern Water Tribe." Rong squirmed in her seat, "All you have to do is be assertive; this man is doing a horrible injustice against his people, remember that."

"No Aurut! I refuse to be silenced!" She yelled. Everyone stopped and looked to see what was happening.

Aurut immediately dropped his conversation, "Rong, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Rong said, not quite sure where she was going, "What's wrong!" She was back to yelling, "What's wrong is Wilner's Traveling Variety Show!"

Aurut sighed, "You're not the only one to bring it up to me. I'm sorry, but I can't take the risk of letting everyone go watch the show while people plot Xulo's freedom. You're just going to have to wait til next year."

'Fair answer,' Rong thought to herself, but she couldn't stop, "No! We've been working hard all year and this is our one chance for relaxation! I demand we get to go!" The on-looking Stormbenders were beginning to talk about what she was saying. "It's our right to go!"

"Look!" Aurut was becoming firm, "No one is more upset about this than me, I understand—"

Fei-Rong pushed against the fear that was telling her to stop, "No, you don't understand, Aurut, you've never understood!" Her voice was becoming rather hoarse, "Do you know how cold it is here?"

"Huh?" Aurut said.

"Have you left this room lately? Have you ever gone on a tundra search? Poor Pausk nearly died of hypothermia last week because of your mandated tundra searches." Untrue, Rong thought to herself, "You know what warms my frigid spirit once a year? Wilner's Traveling Variety Show, Aurut, WTVS."

At this point, Stormbenders were hooting and hollering for Fei-Rong as she stood up to Aurut. "You know what? If you want to go, then just go, I don't care anymore." Aurut looked like he was contracting a major migraine.

"That's not enough!" She pushed further, "I won't be happy until every single Stormbender is there watching the show, dare I say, I want it to be enforced-attendance."

Now the crowd was really rooting her on, Aurut stood up and looked around and suddenly people fell silent. Aurut rubbed his face, "You know what? Fine." Everyone brightened up immediately, "I declare that every Stormbender has to attend Wilner's Traveling Variety Show." The Stormbenders began cheering for Aurut and Fei-Rong, "Bring the Avatar here, I'll watch him myself."

Fei-Rong let out a sigh of relief as she turned around and walked away; people went up to her, telling her that they wanted to say the same thing but didn't have the courage. As they were all stepping out of the throne room, Aurut yelled, "I want you all back as soon as it's over, preparations still need to be made."

The carriage got through the gate easily enough, with the guards recognizing the Wilner carriage. They drove the carriage up to the main plaza where a slew of Stormbenders were waiting. "How many are there?" Taresc asked Lozulia as he hid under a floorboard in the carriage, scared of being recognized.

"Well, it looks like every Stormbender is in attendance, if that's an indication." She said, looking out on all the cheery Stormbenders.

"Every Stormbender?" He said baffled, "I expected she'd be able to get a couple of the guards to come, not all of them. The more, the merrier, I guess."

"Oh look, there she is!" Lozulia held two thumbs up, "Good job!" Fei-Rong noticed and waved back.

"Once we're at the Northern Air Temple, we've got to put on a show for the Stormbenders; so good of a show that we'll be able to sneak off without the Stormbenders noticing. I'll be telling our White Lotus Soldiers about this later and that they have to come up with an act before tomorrow."

"You ready, Vaskon?" Taresc said.

"More than ready!" He said, "You ready, boys?" The soldiers responded with a militaristic grunt. Vaskon blew a gust of air that threw the top of the caravan off and turned it into curtains. Right before their eyes, the wagon turned into a stage. The crowd roared as the show was about to begin.

"Neat." Minege said.

"Let the show begin!" Vaskon announced from center stage. The soldiers began jumping into the plaza; they began bending stones at each other, jumping left and right. One began to juggle balls and another was trying to rile up the crowd with his comedy, falling down over himself like a clown would.

"How's it looking, Pio?" Taresc said, peeking out.

"They're absolutely transfixed." Pio said. Everyone was staring intently at the performance in front of them. "You're safe to come out."

Taresc left from under the stage and with the rest of their team, they left out through the crowd. "They're awful." Taresc heard one man say.

"Wait!" Taresc whispered to his team. He was intent on hearing what they had to say.

"Yeah, they seem pretty new at this; this is really underwhelming compared to last year's show." The other Stormbender said.

As Taresc looked around at the crowd, he saw that they were mesmerized by the show but not for the right reasons. They all had confused expressions at what was going down, and once Taresc saw the 'show', he completely understood why.

The juggler couldn't catch a ball for the life of him. The soldier trying comedy wasn't picking up any laughs, people were more concerned why they let this klutz into the act in the first place. The soldiers throwing stones looked like they were sparring with each other, but not interesting sparring, really boring beginner's-style sparring. "This is hard to watch, you want to go back to guarding the Avatar?"

Taresc instantly got panicked at the Stormbender's remark, "Maybe, let's wait a minute to see if it picks up."

Taresc ran back to where his team was waiting, "What is it, honey?" Minege said.

"The show isn't going well at all, people are getting bored…" Taresc said, trying to think of any and all solutions, "Those Stormbenders were talking about going back, and by the looks of the others, it seems like they aren't the only ones with the idea."

"We need them here!" Pio yelled in a hushed tone.

"Who would have thought that soldiers wouldn't be able to entertain with the exuberance of trained performers?" Lozulia said without a hint of sarcasm. "I was hoping their skimpy outfits would be enough to entertain them."

"If only we lived in a perfect world, sweetie." Minege said as she consoled Lozulia. She saw the depressed and distressed face and laughed, "I'm not worrying."

"And for what logic brings you such calm?" Pio said.

Minege cracked her fingers, "Because we're putting on the show."

Pio stuttered, "W-we?" He said as Minege grabbed his wrist.

"Just go along with it, swampy." She said as she brought him to the plaza's center.

All eyes were on Minege and Pio in the middle of the plaza. "Give me a bubble, boy." Minege said. Pio began bending the snow from around the plaza and turned it into a giant flying bubble. Minege jumped in and swan to the top, once there she whistled for Tanton. Tanton ran over and 'popped' the bubble (really, Pio just dispersed it just as Tanton jumped to touch it). Minege turned in the air and landed on Tanton's beak.

The crowd went wild, Minege then ran over to one of the earthbending soldiers. "Throw me in the air." The earthbender didn't have to be told twice. He bent the tile under Minege's feet and threw her in the air. She flew gracefully upwards and as she reached the height of the jump, she curled up into a ball. Tanton ran underneath her. Minege rolled down the curve of Tanton's back; she rolled down her tail and onto the ground. She sprung out of the ball form and landed on her feet.

The crowd cheered even louder this time for her trick, "How do you know how to do all of this?" Pio went up to her.

"When you live in the most boring village in the entire world, honey, you find things to do." She said with sass, "This is what I did." She ran over to another earthbender and then told him about how they were going to do the next trick.

"Looks like they've got this handled, let's get to Xulo." Taresc said.

"Fei-Rong, I know this will sound odd, but when you've gotten people to the Variety Show, I need you back at Xulo's side. Once we try to liberate Xulo and Ibera, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Rong?" Aurut noticed that she was also in the room. She was wandering around the metal cage that they set up in the middle of the throne room.

Rong nervously greeted him back, "Hello, sir!"

"I'm wholeheartedly surprised…" He said, "You made such a fuss to go to the show and you're here?"

"Y-yes, sir." She said, avoiding eye contact at all costs, "The show was pretty boring, so I decided I'd help you guard the prisoners."

They vaguely heard the sound of cheering in the distance, "Boring?" She nodded. "That's a shame; I pay a lot for them to come all the way out here."

Aurut went back to his throne and clutched his longbow, "Rong?"

"YES!" She yelled in anxiety. "I mean… yes?"

"You acted rather uncharacteristically today… I find that peculiar."

"Just one of those days, you know." She wiped beads of sweat off her brow.

"Yes, we do. But today you decided to corral everyone away from the prisoners, right after a run-in with one of them running away."

Her throat began drying up and had to cough, "What crazy circumstances, I mean, I'm not… you know… uh, I… I think…"

"You're also acting oddly nervous." Aurut stood and approached her, "Look me in the eyes, Rong." She reluctantly did so, "What are you up to?"

She was paralyzed with fear; every fiber of her being shook individually as she stared into Aurut's fierce blue eyes. She couldn't think, and when a thought did emerge, it was completely irrational. "I-I've been…"

Xulo and Ibera were observing from the cage, picking up that Rong hasn't been faithful to the Stormbenders, "She's set to lose a secret today." Ibera said.

"I don't like this." Xulo said, "I don't like this at all."

"So after everyone is set in the plaza, we'll all head up to wherever they're keeping Xulo and Ibera." Taresc smiled, "Take out whatever guard they have on our Avatar and we'll have the power to take on Aurut. They'll be easy, cus they're not going to have a clue what's hitting them."

Taresc and Lozulia stood outside the throne room's door. "You're sure they're being kept here?" Taresc asked.

"Totally!" Taresc shushed her, "I mean… totally." She said in a whispered tone, "I can't tell if I subconsciously overheard it or maybe it's just my inner feelings." She looked side to side, "I don't know, but I DO know." She smiled, "They're in there, for certain."

"Okay, I trust your intuition, Loz." Taresc said meaningfully, "Aurut is most likely in there, so once we get in, we've got to release Xulo and Ibera quick before he can react. So my plan is-"

Lozulia interrupted, "Taresc." She coyly looked to the ground, "Can I just say that I love you?"

Taresc was confused by the sudden profession of love, "I guess you can; what's bringing this on?"

"Nothing, nothing." The words were pained as she spoke them, "I want you to know, that no matter what happens or what I do or what you do, I love you." She said in a sincere voice, "That's all."

"I love you too, Lozulia, unconditionally." Taresc shifted the tone, "now let's go save my brother." They both readied themselves outside of the door; they got into a sprinter's position ready to pounce on Xulo and Ibera's cage. With one last deep breath, they were ready.

Taresc flung open the door and they charged in. However before they even put a second foot in the throne room, an arrow was shot at them. The arrow grazed the side of Taresc's face; Taresc took a giant gasp of air and looked to see where it came from.

Both stopped in the doorway, they looked up and saw Aurut was standing on the support beams up above, brandishing a drawn bow. "Not another step, Basher." Ibera and Xulo were watching from the cage, wide-eyed and concerned, "I won't be missing my next shot, so it'd be better for you if I don't have to shoot."

Lozulia and Taresc breathed shakily, "How did you know we were coming?" Taresc said.

"Your double agent." Aurut said. Taresc looked around and he saw in the corner was Fei-Rong cowering in fear, "Don't blame her, though. She didn't want to tell me." Fei-Rong ran away in shame.

"What happens now?" Lozulia said.

"Well," Aurut said, looking down his arrow, "In a bit, my soldiers should be returning. When they do, I will throw you in that cage as well and Regille will figure out the rest. Until then, we're just going to stay right here."

Lozulia looked to Taresc and saw the hope seeping out of him. It was over, she was certain that was what he was thinking, Aurut had won, he lived up to his genius name. Something seemed to trigger in Lozulia's mind, something that said that she would not give up. Too much was on the line for her, too much to lose. While Aurut seemed to relax his grip for only a second, Lozulia jumped on the second of weakness and shot a great big blast of fire at the wooden rafters.

Aurut had to take a jump back to dodge the fire, but as a result the roof began to catch on fire. In the distraction and chaos, Taresc and Lozulia ran forward to the cage. She put the lock in her hand and superheated it into a brittle piece of rusty metal. She broke it off and opened the door, "Let's go!"

Aurut recollected himself and saw that a section of the beams were burning and down below, the prisoners were trying to escape. "Well if we're playing with fire…" He started to bend the air around him; eventually he caught the fire in the wind and began bending it around the room, "Then let's really play with fire!" The room began filling with smoke as more of the room caught on fire.

"He's playing to win!" Ibera yelled, "We've got to get out of here." Lozulia, Ibera and Taresc began running for the door.

Taresc looked back and noticed that Xulo was standing right dead-center in the middle of the room, staring up at Aurut, "Come on, Xulo!"

Xulo didn't respond, he was in no way, shape or form going to flee and let Aurut win. This was his chance and he wasn't going to let it get squandered. Lozulia and Ibera weren't willing to wait however and booked it for the exit. As soon as they were gone, Aurut increased the air pressure in the room and shut all the doors.

"With Xulo and Ibera in tow, we'll then decide whether we want to wait or take Aurut on right there and then." Taresc said, "I'm sure he won't be easy, but with all of us working together, there's no way that we can lose."

Xulo began shooting fire off at Aurut from down below. Aurut began shooting his arrows off at impressive speeds; he had incredible strength to be able to draw the bow back at the speeds he was going. Xulo swerved and dodged out of the way of every arrow, but every time Aurut shot, the arrow got closer to its mark. Aurut's arrows were flying at a special kind of speed; he was using his airbending to speed his arrows past the sound barrier.

Eventually, Aurut caught up to Xulo's dodging and pierced an arrow through his clothing and into the wooden boards. Aurut shot another arrow and pinned Xulo down further.

Xulo was pinned to the floor by Aurut's arrow. The arrow sunk deep into the wood; Xulo kept tugging and tugging but the arrow just wouldn't come out. Just then, a giant block of ice fell through the newly-exposed part of the roof. It was headed right for Xulo and as Taresc watched, time seemed to slow down. Xulo was still pulling at the arrow, worried for Aurut's next shot, not even noticing the impending danger above his head. Taresc tried to call out, but his lips didn't move, he couldn't say a word.

As the block of ice was maybe one foot away from Xulo, he finally looked up and saw it. Too late for him react, he turned away and braced himself for the impact. After a second, he didn't feel the ice crushing his body, instead a body of water poured down on him. "What?" He said to himself, he knew he didn't turn the ice into water. He looked over and there he found his answer. Taresc was staring at him with a petrified expression, holding out both arms; Taresc just bended water.

Xulo's expression kept switching between five moods: anger, confusion, betrayal, sadness and hatred. Taresc couldn't even process the moment happening in front of him. Xulo simply grabbed the arrows and plucked them out like they were hairs on his head.

The room was getting smokier by the second and the fighters were finding it harder to breathe. All factors were causing Xulo to lose patience in the fight at hand. Xulo began climbing one of the columns; he was taking the fight to Aurut's level. Aurut kept shooting at Xulo, but Xulo spun around on the column and dodged every one.

Xulo reached the top and made a wild dash for Aurut. Every arrow he shot, Xulo blew aside with an angry gust of wind. As Xulo got close, Aurut protected himself with a shield of air. Xulo got to the sphere of wind and pierced his hand right through. Aurut cranked up the intensity but Xulo ripped right through the air and took Aurut by the throat. Xulo jumped off the support beam and they both toppled to the ground. Aurut tried to stabilize himself but Xulo had a death grip on him.

They hit with a speed that created a shockwave in the smoke. Aurut lay on the ground while Xulo was completely unfazed by the fall.

Releasing his grip on his ornate bow, Aurut blacked out and the air pressure of the room finally decreased so the doors could be opened once again. With the room still burning, Xulo took all the ice in the room and turned it to water; with one giant blast of water, he doused the room and then froze it in place.

"Once Aurut is defeated, all we have to do is get the Stormbenders out of there. Parading their defeated general should be enough." Taresc got to his feet, "And that's it! That's the plan."

Xulo turned around and he stared through Taresc with such vile disgust. Taresc opened his mouth, just trying to say he was sorry, but Xulo turned away immediately.

"Let's get some sleep everybody." Taresc started walking out the room, "Tomorrow is going to be a good day for us. Go Team Avatar!"

Captain Vaskon, Ibera and Pio entered the throne room as soon as the chance opened itself; Lozulia had gone back to entertain the Stormbender masses, while Pio and Vaskon came back. Pio and Ibera went up to Xulo; it seemed like they were going up to congratulate him, but Xulo's behavior was dark and they picked up on it. Xulo began whispering to them, and once he was done, they looked right at Taresc in shock.

Vaskon went for Aurut; he hoisted him over his shoulder and went for the exit. Vaskon was ready to inform the Stormbenders that their general has been captured and join the actual natives of The Northern Water Tribe in running the Stormbenders out.

The next couple hours were a tension-warped hell for Team Avatar. It didn't take long for Vaskon to scare away the Stormbenders and congratulated the extremely uncomfortable team. Team Avatar didn't wait for celebrations of their incredible victory; nobody even got a slap on the back. Xulo immediately declared that they were taking the earliest boat back to the mainland.

The boat was even worse. Not a single word was spoken, not one; not between Xulo and Pio nor between Taresc and Lozulia. They all now knew that there was a second Avatar in their midst and while the questions were budding, no one had the courage to break the standstill.

"Get off." After hours of silent travel through fields of tall grass and the occasional homestead, Xulo finally broke the silence. Taresc didn't falter in obeying, he got off and so did Xulo. Dusk was breaking on the breezy day, Xulo looked at Taresc and all he could do was shake his head, "You." He said. "You were the one."

"Xulo, please…" Taresc said.

"No, Taresc." Xulo said clenching his jaw, "I'd be lying if I said that I never thought you could be the one who would forsake me. But, you know what stopped me from continuing down that train of thought? Because, I love—loved you" He corrected himself, "And I thought you loved me."

"I do love you. You are my brother!" Taresc yelled.

"I don't believe you." Xulo shook his head. "I don't."

Taresc immediately burst into tears hearing the pain in Xulo's voice, "Xulo, I'm sorry."

"What was your plan, Taresc?" Xulo began an offense, "How was this going to go down. Were you just going to ride my coattails and once I was at my peak fame, were you going to kill me?"

"How could you even…" Taresc said.

"Well? You'd be the only Avatar, hell, you could even pretend to be me if you wanted to!" Xulo felt his anger growing, "Nobody would know the difference, would they, Taresc?"

"Stop it." Taresc said under his breath.

"I mean, I thought that this jealousy thing died when…" Xulo gasped for air, "When Lido died. I thought that we were brothers after that point in time, but maybe Lido dying didn't mean anything to you."

"Stop it!" Taresc yelled hysterically. "I loved Lido just as much as you did and you know that!"

"I don't know what I know anymore." Xulo wiped the tear that left his eye, "You said you'd never betray me, remember that?" He didn't even look at Taresc now, "…who am I kidding, of course you wouldn't remember. I depended on you, as the one person who I could trust wouldn't try take away this one opportunity from me."

Taresc was silent; he didn't have the power to respond anymore. He looked at the team on Tanton and they all looked incredibly somber. They couldn't even look at the tragedy unfolding before them.

"Well I'm glad you didn't kill me, I got to thank Rinley for warning me." Xulo laughed halfheartedly, "But I'm even gladder that I caught you before you could do so." Xulo went right up to Taresc, "We are done."

Taresc began shaking his head desperately, "No… no, no, no, please Xulo, you can't do this to me." Taresc covered his mouth, "I'm not the traitor, I swear!" his voice was becoming shrill with misery.

"You and I are completely through, this tie is severed." Xulo wasn't crying anymore, "I don't want to see you ever again, Taresc, and if I do…" He paused, "Just don't ever try to find me, Taresc, consider that your warning."

Taresc had slumped to his knees; the grass was blowing against his tender skin as he hopelessly tried to control his tears. Xulo turned back to his team, "Now, for you guys. If any of you want to go with him, this is your chance." Xulo was scarily calm, "Go, now."

Woorq quickly flew over to Taresc's shoulder but that was far from a surprise. Taresc began looking at the team. He didn't bother wasting a second to glance at Pio or Ibera as he knew that they would never choose him. He glanced at Minege, but unsurprisingly, she didn't seem like she was too on the fence about who to pick.

He looked in Lozulia's eyes with the only sprig of hope he had. Seconds went by; Lozulia just kept staring at Taresc. More seconds went by, her expression only got more anguished and tears began flowing from her eyes. It seemed like she was experiencing a pain that couldn't be done by knife, fire or drowning, but it paled in comparison to the hurt that Taresc was feeling. He mouthed, 'Lozulia?' but she just shook her head slowly, letting her shame be an exhibit for Taresc to view.

"I'll go." A voice said. Taresc looked over; someone he had completely written off decided to go with him. "I choose that Avatar." Ibera said shamelessly as he jumped off Tanton and grabbed his bag and Taresc's.

Everybody looked at Ibera with complete surprise as he strutted his way over to where Taresc was kneeling. He put a hand on Taresc's shoulder, but Taresc didn't look up, "Anybody else?" Xulo said, trying to shake off the disbelief. Taresc looked one more time at Lozulia, but she couldn't bring herself to look at him anymore. Just a few hours earlier she professed her love and now she's leaving for good. "Then, we're off."

Xulo boarded Tanton and without a second glance or a simple wellwish for the future, Tanton got running. "Au revoir." Ibera said casually as he waved them goodbye.

Taresc felt like he was going to throw up, his body was paralyzed he couldn't move. It was as if his veins were filled with cement, it hurt just kneeling there. Ibera knelt down and rubbed his back, "There, there, poor child."

Taresc felt like his misery was killing him from the inside out. Taresc felt the way he felt when Lido died, but twice as hard; It was like Xulo and Lozulia died from life, would he ever see them again? What was he going to do? Taresc didn't have a mission, all Taresc wanted was Xulo's mission and now that was gone.

"XULO!" He screamed so loud he tasted blood, "LOZULIA!" no one other than Woorq and Ibera heard him. "please…" he said in a pathetic whimper, "please come back."

END BOOK I