"I thought walking to the temple was a challenge, but this." Satchiko struggled to get it out of her throat, her body is exhausted and needed a break. "This made it look much easier!" She puffed, and breathed loudly.
They were both very tired, as they wanted to get to their destination as soon as possible. However, they have been jogging for quite a while now, and their stamina have depleted tremendously.
"We can't stop, who knows how long those airbenders are staying in one location." Mayumi said without breaking her breathe. "We need to assume that they traveling across the entire Earth Kingdom, once we lost them, we fail. Keep jogging sister!"
Satchiko cannot argue with that. With a renewed burst of energy, she tried jogged a little. She stumbled immediately after just taking a few steps, but her hands managed to stop her face from plummeting to the ground at the very last second.
Seeing this, Mayumi decided that maybe a rest wouldn't hurt. She allowed Satchiko to sat on a nearby log, and rest until she has fully recuperated her energy.
"Hey sis," Satchiko said with a heavy breathe. "What did you think those airbenders were doing back in that town we were just in?"
"What do you mean?" Mayumi responded, she grabbed her backpack to bring out her water canteen. She only drank a small amount before putting the lid back on.
"The kids said that those air nomads are looking for the Avatar, yet it somehow it involved toys." Satchiko remembered in great detail, she is curious as to what activities the air-benders were up to. "It doesn't look like a charity event to me."
"You are right," Mayumi said. She believed that Satchiko is not fully knowledgeable of the entire process of finding the Avatar. While Kyoshi island's school does provide basic education, it doesn't go that much detail into the whole 'Avatar stuff'. Children usually learn about how to read and write, but history subjects are not the most prominent parts. The only way they ever learned about the Avatar cycle is through the story of Avatar Kyoshi, but even that is not fully enough for someone new to grasp every single detail.
"I remember that in father's study room, there was a book that documented the culture of the Air nomads." Mayumi began reminiscing the pages. "They are pacifist, and devote themselves to peace and spirituality. When it is the Air nation's turn to have an Avatar born within their people, they would use toys from previous Avatars to find the new one. If a child is able to select the correct toys among the thousands, then they would be deemed the next Avatar."
"Guess that explains why they have those toys." Satchiko said while panting. She tried to catch as much air around her as possible, and slowly allowing her respiratory rate to return normal. "Must have been nice to have memory from the past lives as guidance."
Feeling the thirst within her dry throat, Satchiko grabbed her water canteen to quench it. However, only a small droplet managed to slip out of the lid. While the droplet did land on her tongue, the failure to satisfy her need of water only intensified.
"I'm going to refill my bottle," Satchiko declared. "Are there any water nearby?"
Mayumi checked her map, and low and behold, there are. "The nearest lake is north from down here, but you need to be careful, as there are also multiple cliffs around that area."
"Yeah, like I would ever go near a cliff!"
Satchiko looked towards where Mayumi pointed, it wasn't too far away, and she should make it back without wasting too much time.
"I will go, hand me your bottle, I will refill your's as well." Satchiko said helpfully, she wanted to ensure that she doesn't neglect the needs of her sister too.
Mayumi gave Satchiko her own canteen, which still had half the amount of water in it. This is possibly due to the older sister's being more aware of how much water she drank, all with the aim of reserving additional water for longer usage.
"Thank you sister, and remember, we can't remain here for too long." Mayumi reminded Satchiko frankly. The younger sister of course acknowledged it, but she still does not see why they should rush their march. If it's true that those air benders intended to use toys to find an Avatar, they would need days if not weeks to go through everyone living in Qiong Cheng.
...
The path to the lake was itself rather taxing for Satchiko's body, as she does have to surmount a few steep hills in order to get there. She was tired of course, but she motivated herself with the hopes of more fresh water. Despite Mayumi's canteen still contain some water in it, Satchiko suppressed her own urge, as she wanted to work hard to earn her own refill.
Once she emerged from the thick trees and bushes, Satchiko finally found herself near the sand of a giant lake. She wasted no time to refill both canteens to their full capacity. Immediately taking one mouthful of water, her thirst evaporated like thin air. When she lowered her canteen, her view of her surroundings were no longer obstructed.
The lake's water itself ran clean and transparent across the area, with the sunlight creating ripples of flashes on its pristine surfaces. Birds can be seen flying across the water as well, with their feet just barely touching the water. When they fly, they leave fine trail of lines behind them.
This scenery is beautiful, but of course only second to her own home. Nothing beats the view of Kyoshi island's beach itself. Nonetheless, Satchiko was enjoying this moment of simplying looking at the natural beauty.
She spent a few minutes to admire it, but the entire mood was suddenly interrupted as Satchiko spotted a bow pointing out of a bush. It was not pointed to towards her, but to something else in the middle of the lake. The distance between her and that bow is just about twenty meters.
Satchiko's attention shot towards the target, it was not something she could have expected. It was a raft of turtle ducks. A mother is carrying two smaller babies on its back, and peacefully swimming across the lake. The two babies cuddled against one another, fearing that they might accidentally fall off their mother's shell.
The girl couldn't very see who is wielding the bow, but she knew that they must be someone cold and heartless. How could anyone hunt a family of animals just like that?
Without much thought, she picked up a nearby rock. She have contemplated about what she is about to do with it. Admittedly, she was a little hesitant.
Taking one more look at the innocent turtleducks, Satchiko forced herself to throw the rock towards the position of the bow. The sound of the impact can be heard all the way from here, and she knew that it must have hurt a lot.
"Ouch!"
Her action also alerted away the family of ducks, as the mother soon hurried further from where Satchiko is. This brought ease to her, knowing she managed to save them.
Expecting that the other person to be some big mean man, the girl prepared herself with a possible confrontation. Instead of that, Satchiko got the greatest surprise of her life.
"By the wrath of the storm, why would you do that!" A little boy yelled indignantly, he was just about to shoot his arrow when suddenly a rock hit his head. Luckily, he didn't appear to be bleeding, as his fur hat took the blunt of the damage.
When the young boy emerged from the bush he was hiding in, Satchiko still couldn't get over her own shock. She just attacked a little children.
The boys doesn't appear to be that old, he is only eleven years of age judging by his height and appearance. His clothes were entirely brown and full of fur, which is reinforced in place with belts and pieces of leather. It's some sort of deel worn by nomads. His boots also appeared rather hefty, which is weird considering how such a small boy can even wear them.
"Hey! I am asking you a question, why did you do that!" The shout of the boy brought Satchiko back from her initial confusion, she still needs to handle the current situation. She refocused herself on the boy while also tried to demand for some answers too.
She snarled, and displayed an angered expression." Well you were about to shoot that family of turtle ducks, why would you use them to play with archery?" Satchiko asked, trying to not raise her voice as she knew this is just a kid much younger than her. "Don't you know that the mother have babies on her?"
"Hey, I was just hunting for food, wouldn't you do the same if you were hungry?" The boy responded said. He is definitely not pleased when he heard Satchiko's lame lectures.
"But they did nothing to you!" Satchiko refuted. "You can't just harm something when they minding their business!"
"Well yeah, but unless you are one of those freaks from the air temples, you definitely have eaten meat...right?"
Satchiko faltered, as fish is also meat. She has eaten fish all her life. It's her favorite source of protein.
"Animals didn't do anything to us, yet most people still eat them anyway." The boy made sure that he emphasized the last bit more, he wanted to see if he can wriggle out any hypocrisy in het logic. He is very certain that the girl is not a vegetarian. After all, only those monks believe in such wanton practices such only eating vegetables.
If that was his intention, it worked pretty well. The older girl is no longer interested in talking, as she remembered how she directly took the life of an Elephant koi simply because she wanted to eat the fillet. She now actually felt a little bad, since she is the one responsible for the fish's demise.
"Well, you are right, I rammed an elephant koi to the beach because I wanted it's meat for dinner." Satchiko disclosed. She believed it is better to not act hypocritically in front of someone who younger than her, otherwise it would definitely dishonor her own reputation. "I never even considered it's life before I took it."
The eyes of the boy almost popped out, and he response highlighted his own surprise. "You took down an Elephant Koi? That's so cool!" He exclaimed.
"Um yeah, and I almost lost my life to the Unagi," Satchiko continued with a neutral tone. The jaw of the boy bow dropped lower, even though Satchiko did kind of played down that incident. The kid only wanted to make Satchiko feel uncomfortable in this debate about hunting animals, but he is now the one feeling nervous in further arguing with her.
The boy decided to change his approach, and soon discarded his rude confrontations. Perhaps it would be better to befriend this stranger rather than engaging in pointless discussions.
"The name's Batu," the boy introduced himself. "From one warrior from another, you are pretty good."
"Thanks, my name is Satchiko of Kyoshi island." They both shook hands. Despite their differences, at least they are able to be friendly at one another.
They stopped when a rumbling sound interrupted this elegant moments. Satchiko knew where this sound was from, she haven't eaten anything since they got off that ship. She hoped that she can somehow get her hands on some food, although she subconsciously hoped that it doesn't involve hunting animals.
"You can come back to my camp, I'm sure the Khan wouldn't mind having guests." The boy suggested with a delighted smile. "Our Khan love to have guesses. My sister can make some very good cheese! For dinner, we are having a lot of staff, like roast ribs, fermented milk and even Buuz!"
"Buuz?" Satchiko asked with a confused expression, she never heard of any food named like that before. And who is this Khan person? Is that a name? A title?
"Oh, it's just dumpling with meat in it." The boy explained enthusiastically. "You can have as much as you want!"
Satchiko, still enduring the hunger in her body, wanted to taste those food so badly. She is already imagining what mainland Earth Kingdom food tastes like when compared to the cuisine back home. Even though she have defeated her need for water, food shortage is definitely another problem. She fought the urge of her stomach, reminding herself that she still needs to return back to Mayumi and finish their trip.
"Thanks for the invitation," Satchiko sadly replied. "Unfortunately my sister and I must go to another town, it's very important."
"Oh that's too bad," the boys said with empathy. "We were going to have such good food tonight. So much meat!" He even drooled a little by just thinking about the feast. And the Kyoshi warrior near also suppresses her imaginations. Thankfully, the rustling sound from the nearby bush diverted her attention.
"There you are Satchiko!" Mayumi emerged, there are a few leaves and grass sticking in her long thick hair. Unlike Satchiko's shorter one, the older sister must constantly be mindful of her extended hair in order to not hinder her combat.
"What took you so long-oh hello there?" Mayumi said with a surprised expression, she noticed Batu standing next to Satchiko "Who may you be?"
Batu only waved at Mayumi, whom still doesn't know who this is.
"That's your sister right?" Batu asked, even though it was pretty obvious the moment Mayumi stepped into his view. The near identical face paint and headdress made them look almost indistinguishable, the height of the two sisters are the only thing that tells them apart. Of course, and the hair.
"Mayumi, this is Batu," Satchiko introduced her new friend. "Batu, this is my big sis Mayumi."
Her elder sister exchanged a few friendly gestures with the young boy, and Satchiko concealed the fact that she just hurled a rock at Batu earlier. She already got herself into one trouble with that governor, and Mayumi shouldn't bail her out of a second one.
"We appreciate your kindness, but like my sister just said, we can't spend too much time here." Mayumi said. Despite Batu once away inviting them over for dinner, the two sisters kindly turned down his invitation.
"I'm curious, what is so important in that town you are heading anyway?" Batu asked while scratching his head. "What could be more important than food?"
"Well, you see, we wanted to go to Ba Sing Se but our ship was broken down." Mayumi began to recap previous mishaps and events that lead them here. "We only allowed to have a short amount of time to reach the city, and we decided to go there ourselves."
"But it's so far away!" Batu exclaimed.
Mayumi nodded in response to Batu's statement, she too acknowledges the challenge both her and Satchiko is trying to overcome. "In the last town where we encountered the governor of this state, we managed to spot an sky bison, and the local children told us it's heading to the town of Qiong Cheng."
"A wild bison? How do you know it's actually heading there?" The boys became more confused then ever.
"Um no," Satchiko interjected. "The kids said that there are air monks riding on it. We hope that we can catch up to them and ask them for a lift."
Upon hearing Satchiko mentioning of the monks, Batu's expression immediately soured. His face became a bit more stern, as if he wanted to lash out at everything.
"What's wrong?" Satchiko asked with concern, did she said something that have offended her new friend?
"Nothing," Batu replied. "I just don't like those baldies." He kicked a nearby rock, which dropped into the lake and sink right into the bottem. "What makes you think they would help you?" Batu suddenly asked. His tone became a little challenging and interrogative. "Just because they are peaceful and friendly in the books doesn't mean that they might help you for real."
Mayumi felt a little awkward, she just told Satchiko that those air nomads believe in harmony. The sources of Mayumi just so happens to be from a book.
"But Batu, we very needed their help." Satchiko said in a reconciliatory tone. "While they are occupied in searching the Avatar, I'm sure they are willing to at least give us a ride."
"Those freak don't care about you!" Batu bursted out. "All they do is meditate and tell others how kind they are while everyone else is mean and angry! If those monks are as good as you say then why don't they help me when I needed them the most!"
Batu tried to relax his temper, but to no avail. His fury is clearly directed at the air nomads rather than Satchiko and Mayumi.
Satchiko placed her hand on Batu's shoulder, she gently patted him a few times in order to reassure him. A part of her is actually afraid that he will lash at her as well.
"It's ok, we don't need to talk about them." Satchiko intentionally left out the words air monks intentionally. When she was younger, Akahana often reminded Satchiko to have good manners when she is talking with others around her. While Satchiko doesn't know about Batu's background or the reason for his anger, she knew she needs to tread carefully when talking with him.
"It was nice knowing you Batu, but we have to go now." Mayumi said. They have spent too much time here, and she feared that they might lose valuable time in their chase of that bison. "Let's go Satchiko."
"Wait," Batu's voice halted the advance of the two sisters. "I hated those blue arrow heads a lot, but I don't think they should be the ones to help you get to Ba Sing Se."
"What do you mean?" Satchiko said. She is curious as to what Batu is trying to suggest here.
"You said you wanted an air bison? I will get you an air bison." Batu's weird sentence did not ring any bell in Satchiko. Air bisons are often owned by an Air nomads or Air acolyte, how could a kid like him even get himself such a beast?
Before Satchiko can asked what he actually meant, Mayumi abruptly shoved her to the ground. Satchiko felt the immediate impact, and tries to recover from this unprecedented action. But Mayumi's weight is still on her, and she can only wait until her elder sister got off. It was very stiff when being crushed under Mayumi's weight, it was only now did she realize how uncomfortable Kazuki must have felt during that one training session.
"What was that for?!" She asked. Satchiko tried to comprehend why her sister behaved in such a way. Her body froze when she notice that Batu was covered in what appeared to be a giant net. The net was large enough to trap his entire body, and successfully immobilize him.
"Get me out of this thing!" Baku cried, struggling to free himself. He is all tangled up, pinked to the grass.
Mayumi and Satchiko wanted to help, but their attention was instead helplessly focused on four hooded figures stepping out of the woods.
"You missed Feng!" One of the hooded person demeaned in a hissing female voice. "Was it very that difficult?"
"You are taking this a little too seriously Shui, there is four of us and two of them!" The hooded person receiving lecture only chuckled in response, as if this is just a game for him. He soon discarded the net gun and prepared himself in an air bending stance.
"Hey, you forgot one!" Batu yelled indignantly in the net. He wanted to at least be acknowledged that he is here, even though he felt their target is Satchiko and Mayumi. "When I get out of this, you are all done for!"
"We cannot harm that kid, he is not part of this." A deeper male voice pointed out. "What do you say Huo?"
"Correct Tu, we are only here for the two sisters." Huo stated one last time. "I will not allow other people being hurt."
"Seriously, stop talking as if we cam't hear you!" Batu said frustratedly. He is deeply enraged by how entitled these four strangers are.
Simultaneously, the four hooded figures removed their hood to reveal their identity.
They were all in the rather average clothing known as the Duan Da, with a little wear and tear on them. It is noticeable however that the clothes of the four individuals are separated into four distinctive colors.
The girl named Huo, who is assumed to be the leader, wears a dark red texture on her. Her black pony tail is tied so that the braid does not interfere her movement.
Feng wears a more orange and yellow piece, with a vest replacing a usual shirt that matches the rest of his body. He is slimmer than the other three, and the lighter clothing choice clearly reflected that.
Shui's robes are blue. She had a gourd bottle filled with water strapped to her sides. Her stance is now in a water bending stance, with her two hands near the lid of the bottle
The last one is Tu, who had a green and brown outfit. Unlike the others, his clothing is much dirtier and rugged than his companions. In his hands are a few large Earth coin projectiles.
Drawing from past experiences in fighting the pirates, Mayumi and Satchiko instincts kicked in. Even the intentions of these strangers are still unknown to them, the two sisters still prepared their weapons. They temporarily dropped their backpack and got into a defensive stance.
Satchiko opened her two war fans, Mayumi drawn out her katana, and Batu is still trying to untangle the net he is in. The sister knew they must defend their new friend, while also be mindful of their own safety.
The atmosphere suddenly became very tense, as both sides knew that they are about to enter a fight.
The stand off continued as Batu struggled in the net.
Author's notes:
-Batu's design is clearly based off Mongolian culture, his fur hat are still worn by Mongolians today. His name Batu means loyal, but it can also meant stable/firm in other languages.
-We have never seen whether or not mother turtle ducks actually carry their babies in their backs. Since turtle ducks are hybrids between a duck and a turtle, I decided to have the babies to be on their mother's shell like a turtle while also using the word 'raft' as a group name just like real life.
-The gourd bottle Shui is carrying are used as a water bottle in ancient China(Technically there are still people who use it today, why not right?). This often an alternative to water skin, and is made to look like the Chinese gourd fruit.
