A/N: So in case you haven't figured it out yet: Italics are usually thoughts.
Chapter 3: The Blue Spirit
"Aang, I think we should land. Sokka doesn't look so good."
Looking back, Aang saw Sokka curled up on the floor of the saddle, breathing heavily. He let out a loud series of coughs, causing Rin and Katara to raise their arms to protect themselves from whatever disease Sokka had caught.
"There are some ruins over there. Seems like a good place to land," Rin suggested, looking out over the saddle and pointing. Aang started steering Appa down to the ruined buildings, landing in a large courtyard. The sun was starting to set over the mountains, casting a shadow over the group.
"Aang, go see if you can find any ginger root in this area. I can make it into tea to help Sokka feel better," Katara said. Aang nodded, flying off to scout the area while the others stayed with Appa. Rin stood up, feeling a lot better than she had in the morning. She felt fully recovered from her injuries - which was odd, seeing that she had fallen off a cliff only a day before.
"So, Rin, I assume you're going to leave now? Go on, nobody's stopping you," Katara said, trying to force Sokka into a sleeping bag.
"Are you kidding? It's going to be night soon, and the nearest village is hours away. I'd rather take my chances staying with you guys then go out into the woods alone in the dark. A place like this is probably teeming with bandits and thieves," Rin replied, digging out a few supplies from her bag.
"So you'd fit right in, am I right?"
"Oh, shut it."
Rin grabbed an armful of wooden planks from the various destroyed structures around the courtyard and set them in a pile near Appa, cutting a few of the planks with her hatchet. She then took her spark rocks out of her bag, using them to create a fire and keep the group warm throughout the cold winter night.
"Move the boy closer to the fire," Rin commanded, gesturing towards Katara.
"We have names, you know," Katara said as she rolled Sokka, who was now stuffed inside of a sleeping bag, near the heat of the flame.
"I'm bad with names. Usually don't have to remember any other than my own," Rin replied, climbing up onto Appa and searching through the group's supplies.
"Hey, what are you doing? Stop that!" Katara shouted, climbing up behind Rin.
"Calm down, it's not like I'm always a thief," Rin said, climbing back down past Katara with the fish Sokka had gotten from the old man earlier today. She stuck the fish onto a stick and held it up against the fire, roasting it against the flames.
"That's Sokka's fish! We should be the ones eating it!" Katara said.
"I made the fire, and I'm doing the cooking. We'll split it evenly, fair?" Rin asked, turning the fish so it would cook evenly.
Katara let out a sigh and nodded, sitting down on the opposite side of the fire. Even inside of his sleeping bag, Sokka was shivering and chattering his teeth, obviously down with some illness.
"You know what I love the most about Appa? His sense of humor," Sokka said nasally with an odd look on his face.
"Sokka, what are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?" Katara asked.
"I'm no healer, but I think he's delirious. Whatever he has, it's getting worse," Rin explained. Just then, Aang flew back into the courtyard, carrying a small scroll with him.
"How's Sokka doing?" Aang asked, folding up his glider and touching down onto the ground as he spoke.
"Not so well. He probably caught a cold from being out in the storm for so long," Katara replied, folding up a wet rag and pressing it against Sokka's forehead. His nose was starting to run, and his shivering was getting worse. Aang kneeled down and put the scroll on the ground, spreading it out to reveal a map.
"I couldn't find any ginger root to make the tea, but I did manage to find this map of the surrounding area. There's a herbalist on top of of a nearby mountain, so we can probably get a cure for Sokka there," Aang explained, pointing out the location to the group.
"Aang, Sokka's in no condition to travel. It will just take some rest. I'm sure he'll be better by tomorrow, anywa-" Katara tried to say before breaking into a fit of coughs of her own.
"Not you too!" Aang said, looking up from the map.
"Relax, it's just a little cough. I'll be fine," Katara reassured Aang, before she started coughing again, this time with much more force.
"That 'little cough' is what your brother had back on the bison. You should try and rest before it gets any worse," Rin suggested. Katara replied, lying down next to Sokka.
"I'm going to visit the herbalist and see if I can get any medicine. Rin, can you watch Katara and Sokka for me?" Aang asked.
"Sure, but you owe me," Rin replied. Aang nodded in confirmation before rushing off down the mountain, leaving behind a large trail of dust as he opened his glider and disappeared.
Well, I guess the Avatar owes me a favor now. That could be useful, Rin thought. She looked over at the Water Tribe siblings who were curled up by the fire. Sokka was shivering despite how warm his sleeping bag seemed to be, and Katara was coughing up a storm.
"Now I've got to take care of you two..." Rin mumbled, dipping the now-dry rag on Sokka's hot forehead into the bowl of water and placing it back on his head.
"Water..." Sokka moaned weakly.
"Rin... take my waterskin and find a river. We need water," Katara said, holding up her waterskin with a shaking hand.
"Well, I guess I can do that," Rin replied, taking the pouch from Katara's hand. She went over to the map Aang had found, looking for a river. She eventually found one in a nearby valley and set off, taking the waterskin, map, and her hatchet with her.
At least there's a path down the valley, Rin thought, walking down the winding path to the river. The forest around her wasn't too dense, and the light of the sun wasn't completely gone, so Rin got a dim view of the area surrounding the path. As she looked around, she caught a glimpse of something moving through the trees. Looking closer, Rin saw what seemed to be a group of archers jumping through the trees, quickly and effortlessly leaping from branch to branch. One of the men was carrying something over his shoulder - something with orange robes and blue tattoos, Rin noticed in the dying light.
"I'm sure those two will be able to handle having a dry throat for a while," Rin mumbled, running after the archers. She tried to keep up with them, but eventually, they disappeared out of her sight. Rin sighed, taking the map out of her bag and spreading it out against the forest floor. She sat down to read the map, trying to find out where Aang's captors were headed. The light was still bright enough that she could see the map and make out where the archers were going.
They're going this way, so if they continue along this route they'll eventually reach... a high security Fire Nation fortress. Just my luck. Rin closed the map and got back up. Following the archers, she started running towards the fortress, wondering how she could rescue Aang.
After several minutes of running, the forest suddenly disappeared, revealing a small clearing with the fortress sitting in the middle. Rin ducked into a bush, hiding away from any guards that may have spotted her. Looking back towards the fortress, she tried to find a way to break in.
There's a watchtower on every corner, and the front gate is heavily guarded. I don't see any way to get through from here, Rin thought, before spotting a stream of water flowing out from the side of the fortress. She ran across the outskirts of the clearing, making sure to keep hidden in the brush, until she found what she was looking for - a sewage pipe.
By now, the day had already turned to night, and the only light came from the watchtowers. Rin took off her cloak and left it in a bush, along with the map, taking only her hatchet in case she needed to defend herself. After making sure that none of the guards on the wall were looking in her direction, she quickly scampered to the wall, hiding in a shadow next to the sewage hole.
Rin examined the pipe, finding a grate covering the entrance. Luckily, it was old and rusted, allowing Rin to knock it off the hole with a few quick swings from her hatchet. Rin looked into the hole, and a putrid smell wafted up into her nose. Dirty water was flowing out of the half-submerged hole in the wall and into a small stream, where it drained into the forest.
This is the Avatar, Rin. He's the world's last hope, and besides, he owes you a favor. It'll be worth it. Rin started wading into the pitch-black sewers of the fortress, the freezing cold water reaching up to her waist. The tunnel was just high enough so that, if she leaned down slightly, she could walk through the tunnels without hitting her head against the ceiling. Rin grimaced as she felt a small, slick object pass by her leg, slowly drifting towards the exit of the sewers.
Well, this probably where all the poop goes. I shouldn't expect anything different. Rin used her hatchet to scout in front of her, keeping her from hitting the walls of the tunnel, and she eventually hit a sharp turn in the tunnel after a few minutes of wandering through the darkness. As she waded around the corner, she saw a dim, orange light shining from above, illuminating the tunnel ahead.
"Finally, a way out of this dump," Rin said to herself, wading up to the hole in the ceiling. With a grunt, she jumped up and hoisted herself up through the hole, coming out into a small latrine room. Rin crawled out onto the floor, soaked and filthy from the waist down before getting up and looking out into the hallway. After making sure that no one was around, she started down the hallway, turning the corner and seeing a man tied to the ceiling by the wrists. By his attire, Rin presumed that he was a guard.
Looks like someone got here before me, Rin thought, proceeding past the guard. As she went around the next corner, she bumped into someone, causing her to fall back. Rin looked up and saw a man with a blue mask. He was clad entirely in a black body suit and wielded two curved swords. She got up, raising her hatchet to defend herself, but Aang ran up beside the man, prompting Rin to lower her weapon.
"Hey, Rin! Did you come to rescue me, too? Do you know this guy?" Aang asked, but the man in the mask signaled them to be quiet. He started creeping down the hallway towards the exit, but Rin stopped him, grabbing his arm.
"I know a good way we can get out of here," she whispered, as the man nodded in response. Rin lead the two back down the way she came and into the latrine room. She pointed down the hole, prompting a look of disgust from Aang's face.
"Are we seriously going down there?"
"It's the safest way out, and it's how I got in. Either you go through a hundred soldiers, or you go through a river of crap."
Rin climbed down the hole and splashed into the filthy water, followed by the masked man and Aang. Since she had already gone through the tunnel, the smell didn't bother her as much, but Aang had a look of disgust on his face from the putrid odor. The masked man didn't show any signs of being bothered; he had already started wading down through the tunnel. As the three drudged on through the darkness, an alarm suddenly started to ring above them.
"Well, they probably found out that you're missing. We should hurry," Rin said. After a few more minutes of wading through the sewers, the three reached the exit, climbing out of the river of sewage and into the clearing outside of the fortress. The masked man signaled towards the forest, and they started running to the safety of the trees. However, as they got close to the forest, Rin heard an arrow rush by, followed by a pinging noise. The masked man fell to the ground, a blunt arrow laying beside him. The mask had been knocked loose, revealing a large scar around the man's left eye.
"Never thought I'd see you again," Rin mumbled before turning to find a group of soldiers rushing at them from the side. She ran past the unconscious prince, dashing into the forest and picking up her stuff where she had left it. Looking back, Rin saw the soldiers approaching Aang, who was still standing over the body of the prince.
"Hurry up!" Rin shouted to the boy, who whipped up a large dust cloud with his airbending as Rin spoke. As the soldiers approached the cloud, Rin spotted Aang jumping into the forest while carrying the prince on his back. Rin met up with him, and they ran away into the fortress, leaving behind a group of confused soldiers. After they had gotten far enough from the fortress, they stopped to rest.
"To think he would rescue me..." Aang mumbled, putting the prince up against a tree.
"You know this guy?" Rin asked.
"Yes, he's been trying to capture me since I left the South Pole."
"So, why don't you just leave him here? Or kill him, if he's really that much trouble? You've got a good opportunity right now."
"Rin, are you kidding? I can't kill him, even if he's my enemy! Besides, he just saved me!"
"So, what are you going to do with him then?"
"I'll watch over him until he wakes up. Hopefully, we can settle our conflict with each other."
"Whatever. Just be careful. He's still your enemy. I'm going back now, so don't stay too long."
Rin ran off back in the direction of the ruins where Katara and Sokka were resting, but she suddenly remembered why she had gone out in the first place. She dug the waterskin out of her bag and went over to the river, filling up the pouch and corking it tightly. After running for several minutes, Rin arrived back at the courtyard, where the two Water Tribe siblings were resting. The fire had already gone out, and both of the teenagers were resting in their sleeping bags.
"Here's your water," Rin said, holding the waterskin above Sokka's head. The boy opened his mouth, and Rin poured the water down his throat. She proceeded to do the same thing for Katara, then drank some of the water herself.
"What took you so long?" Katara asked, her voice weak due to her sickness.
"I'll explain in the morning. You should go to sleep for now," Rin said. Katara complied, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep. Rin looked back to check on Sokka and, after seeing that he was also asleep, set out to bring the fire back to light. When it was burning, Rin lay down against Appa and closed her eyes. The day had taken a lot out of her, and she needed a rest.
Rin woke up to a faraway whooshing sound slowly coming closer to her location. Opening her eyes, she saw Aang fly in and land, carrying what seemed to be frozen frogs in his arm. He tapped Katara and Sokka on the head with his staff, waking them up before shoving a frog into each of their mouths.
"Suck on these, you'll feel better," Aang explained, going over to Appa's tail and lying down without any other explanation. Rin watched his face for any emotions, but he just held a dismal look across his face.
"Aang, how was your trip? Did you make any new friends?" Sokka asked through a mouthful of frog.
"No, I don't think I did," Aang replied. Sokka went back to sucking on his frog as Rin walked up next to Aang.
"So, what happened with the guy?" Rin asked.
"I don't want to talk about it," Aang said, rolling away from her. Rin went over to check on the siblings and saw that the frogs had thawed and were now trying to escape. As the two realized what they had in their mouths, they spit out the frogs and started coughing, trying to get rid of the taste.
"So, what took the both of you so long to get back? All we needed was medicine and water," Katara asked.
"Well, I got captured by the Fire Nation and held prisoner, but Rin saved me," Aang replied. Rin noticed that he didn't mention the prince, but she let it slide, assuming that things hadn't gone well, and that the Avatar and the prince were still enemies. It would be better just to leave it at that, rather than let the two siblings worry.
"Huh. So she rescued you by herself? That's pretty impressive," Sokka said, looking over towards Rin.
"Hey, Rin, wanna join us?" Aang asked.
"What do you mean?" Rin asked.
"We're heading to the North Pole so that Aang can learn waterbending. Seeing that you managed to rescue him from a fortress, maybe you can help us fight against the Fire Nation when the time comes," Sokka explained.
"Are you crazy? She'll just take all of our stuff and run off!" Katara shouted, clearly rejecting the idea of Rin traveling with the group. Meanwhile, Rin was debating whether she should accept Aang's offer.
This is the Avatar I'll be traveling with... and besides, it's better than traveling alone. Who knows, maybe I'll become famous as one of the Avatar's companions. That'll get me something, at least.
"I'll do it," Rin said, earning a grin from Aang and a frown from Katara.
"Well, that's settled. Rin, could you hand me the map?" Sokka asked. Rin took the map out of her bag and handed it to Sokka, who spread it on the ground.
"Makapu Village is over here. It's less than an hour away if we fly, and we can resupply there. We already ate the only food we had," Sokka explained, pointing out the village to everyone else.
"I think Appa's tired from flying around so much. It'll only take us a few hours to walk there, anyways, so I think that's what we should do," Aang suggested.
"Then let's go," Rin said. The four teenagers, along with their bison, walked out of the courtyard, which was now lit up by the morning sun. They left the ruins and started down the forest path, heading towards the next village.
A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed so far. Please leave a review, and don't hesitate to tell me if there's anything wrong with the story. I don't prewrite anything (in fact, I don't preplan half the things I write), so the update schedule may be slightly irregular, though I will try to update about once a week.