Chapter 4 – Stone Arcades
They had been in port at the colony four days when Zuko looked to the sky and saw a small, fast-traveling cloud with six legs pass overhead. Speechless, he watched its course until it passed out of sight, then went to consult his uncle, who was relaxing with ginseng tea and receiving a foot massage from a local woman. "When was the last time a sky bison was seen alive?"
"Since before I was born, so quite a while. Why?"
"That monk kid. He might not be the Air Nomad Avatar, but what if he's related? Maybe a grandchild. You said there can't be many left, so there might be a connection between them, and I could get a lead on finding the current Avatar. He's traveling somewhere within the Pitola Range, and quickly. I want to follow him."
Iroh, sighing sadly, dismissed the masseuse and finished his cup of tea, then followed after. Zuko was already issuing orders for an immediate departure overland. The ship couldn't proceed to the mountains, but mounts could, and within an hour they were leaving with as many men as they could saddle following the line of direction he'd witnessed the bison heading for. When evening came he pressed them to continue until the last drop of sunlight was wrung from the day, and when they could no longer maneuver in the darkness only then did he grudgingly allow them to make camp. His uncle dismounted, grimacing and rubbing his back, and commented, "I miss the ship already."
As the mountain range grew closer, the forested hills began to compress at their base. Vertical juts of stone erupted from the ground, each mountain rising isolated like stalagmites, making for a difficult obstacle course to traverse. Few lived in the area, and those only in the valleys, where fruit-trees and hardy vegetables grew which, long ago, had been sown by the monks and had since flourished wild in their absence. In the right season the valleys would be laden in plums, peaches, and chestnuts, but it was only early spring. Footpaths indicated foragers came through to comb the forests in summer and autumn, but Zuko saw no permanent structures other than a shabby hunter's cabin and one surviving well. He and his uncle shared the cabin, which was weathered and underfurnished, while the men camped bivouac nearby. Further into the range were remnants of pathways that the monks once used, but even the foragers and hunters avoided them when possible, as their state was in questionable repair and the risk of rock-slides and avalanches made the journey more risky than it was worth. The main roads, now, went around the mountain range via the coasts instead of through. Pine managed to cling to the sides of the mountains, though by the highest reaches they resembled tiny bonsai trees, even in species where, had they good land, they could reach immense sizes.
Zuko unfurled a map across the cot of the cabin and studied it with his uncle. "He must be heading to this air temple. Look, it's a perfect match for his direction, and the closest one to the South Pole. It's possible they've set up an entire refuge there, descendents of the last Avatar."
"It's possible," Iroh grudgingly admitted. "However, the position of Avatar is not familially inherited."
"I know that, but the last Avatar must have left instructions to find and educate his reincarnation. They'll know where I can find the new one. They must be training in secret, waiting for a chance to strike against the Fire Nation."
"Then they've been waiting a long time and, meanwhile, we have pushed the other nations further and further to the edge," commented Iroh. "I'm not sure about your theory, but I admit, I'm interested to see if there are any other surviving airbenders at the temple. Since it was believed we had finished eradicating them, we haven't been keeping strict watch over their temples, which are nothing but ghost towns lying in ruin. Prince Zuko, what if the new Avatar turns out not to be with them, but might be locked behind the safe walls of the North Pole, or Ba Sing Se? Knowing his location is only half the battle."
"At the very least we can present evidence to my father that he exists and where he might be, and he'll help us put together a large enough force to move in on him."
"I miss that massage girl already," said his uncle, still rubbing his back. "It will take two days to get there, assuming we sleep at night. The crew will have dinner ready soon, and after that I suggest getting rest, Prince Zuko. If they do have an appreciable number of surviving airbenders, we may be in for a fight, and if there is an Avatar there, I don't know what to expect except a lot of trouble. You need to be in good form for this."
"I know, Uncle. I'm not worried. Now that I've finally found a lead to my goal, my mind has never been clearer. I can take a few miserable airbenders." He continued to study the map until presented with dinner, then carefully rolled it back up, the image of the swirling ink depicting the air temple still lingering behind his vision.
#
With Aang guiding the bison and the siblings resting in the saddle they cleared mileage easily, not worried about keeping too break-neck a pace. Katara felt comfortable and sheltered, cradled in the spacious saddle, and could watch the scenery pass in leisure. They stopped in late afternoon at an area Sokka pointed out, a narrow valley between precipitous peaks. Aang said, "The air temple is further into the mountain range, on top of a summit, so we can reach it by tomorrow. Let's find something for dinner."
As snow clinging to the mountains melted, it fed tiny streams which laced the valley, and the forest was bright and thick for being well irrigated. It was spring and some edibles were already coming into ripeness. As the siblings made camp Aang went to forage, and in an hour had brought back a canvas bag filled with berries and herbs. "I've got these roots, too. They're edible if boiled well. Once soft they're quite sweet." Katara filled a cooking pot and set them to simmer while Sokka searched around the stream, overturning rocks and digging through the mud. He brought back a handful of riversnails and dumped them into the water unceremoniously. Aang frowned and stuck his tongue out. "Everything will taste like snail now."
"Better snail than a bunch of twigs."
Appa went to graze and began eating large mouthfulls from bushes and anything else that he came across. Katara could only wonder at how much food an animal that large must need to eat, but had to admit that flying was a luxurious form of travel she could get used to and that he was a great investment no matter how much feed he required. Sokka waited over the pot for the riversnails to become tender as she unrolled their sleepingbags on soft, level ground. By that time Aang had dishes of salad with berries waiting for them, Sokka had plated the snails on some large leaves, and the only thing left was the roots, which took another quarter hour. Soft enough to break open, they were able to eat the flesh right out of the skin like a banana. "Bleh," said Aang. "They taste like snail."
"We only have one pot to cook in," said Katara. "I'm glad Gran-gran had a spare for us at all."
After dinner she decided to practice waterbending forms at the stream to work out the stiffness from riding in saddle all day. Swirling the water back and forth, changing it to ice and back again, dividing and reuniting it, she shifted her weight around and twirled the water meditatively. Aang watched her for a while, then finally asked, "Can you teach me?"
She paused, letting the water stream hang in the air, and gave him an incredulous look. "You're not a waterbender."
"Oh, right. I mean, it looked fun," he stuttered. "Nevermind." She thought that Sokka might have a point that he was still withholding something from them, but he seemed harmless despite that. She felt safe with the bison there as well—he may have been an herbivore, but he seemed well capable of protecting the trio from any predator between his immense size and horns. She continued to practice as he watched and Sokka scouted around the area until he was satisfied with their security. Her brother returned in time to go to sleep alongside them, with the bison shutting his own eyes nearby nestled against shrub cover.
They ate a quick breakfast and took off fresh in the morning. As they went into the mountain range Aang guided them higher and higher in altitude until the air was noticeably thinner and temperature colder. Body heat from the air bison transferred through the saddle and kept an ambient warmth softly radiating, which helped keep the siblings, who were unused to the travel mode, more comfortable with it. There were some walking trails through the range, but they were winding and narrow, often so tight around the mountainsides that travelers would have had to inch past in single file. In the areas most exposed to high wind or on the steepest slopes, no foliage grew and the footpaths were plainly visible carved into the stone, but elsewhere they'd become overgrown. It was obvious that the trails were in disrepair and some sections crumbled away entirely, making her all the more grateful to fly. Into the valleys the forest looked impenetrably dense. Above, peaks narrowed and rose above the treeline even into the clouds, making her think the mountains resembled trunks of giant trees. During her two years traveling alone, Katara had spotted this mountain range when traveling past the area but had never wandered in, as the passes were labyrinthine and hadn't been fully traversed since antebellum times. Though she looked for signs of habitation, she saw no other people around.
Suddenly the animal veered left and their incline steepened. She and Sokka both grabbed the handles of the saddle, uncomfortable with the angle they climbed at. Her brother was anxiously checking the ties on the luggage to make sure it wouldn't be blown off. Below them, the canopy of the woodland in the valleys faded out as the air clouded over. Katara, her senses piquing, reached a hand out and felt the air tentatively—it was a cloud they were passing through; she was touching a cloud and could feel every drop of water dispersed in it from evaporation. She tested herself and pulled a small amount of fluid out with bending, held it in her palm, and felt giddy. "Sokka, look, it's water. We're inside a cloud." Her brother, however, was not impressed, and the ascent was causing him undue stress. Curiously, Katara brought her palm to her lips and drank what she had gathered, having no more amount than merely to taste the substance, and found it the purest water she'd ever had without even a trace of minerals.
As the climb had begun, so it ended. Suddenly they flattened out and took a minute to float in place. "We're here," announced Aang triumphantly.
Atop a mountain peak had been erected a temple complex. Partially carved into the stone and partially built up in masonry from the amount that had been excavated, it blended into the mountain seamlessly. The main tower was a lofty pagoda, and clustered around were smaller annexes and flat courtyards. The construction was blue and white, impossibly clean and pure, but, as she noticed and Aang must have as well, there were no occupants. Wordlessly he coaxed the air bison forwards and landed in a courtyard on the lower section. They deboarded and looked around. Katara felt lightheaded from the altitude and Sokka looked about to vomit. That high up hardly any plants grew but for a few stunted pine and the hardiest of high-altitude wildflowers in small numbers.
"I don't understand, where is everyone?" asked Aang.
Katara put a hand on his shoulder. "Remember, it's been a hundred years. It's possible no one wanted to come back since it's so obvious a target. Maybe the survivors went to live somewhere else."
"Maybe." He looked disappointed, though, and wandered listlessly with his glider in hand. They followed him through winding paths of narrow, smooth stone with steep drops to either side. It was a place no one but an airbender would feel secure in. From above, the walls had looked flawless, but at the ground there were visible scorch marks present. Aang placed a hand against one. "This is from firebenders, isn't it?"
No one spoke as they toured the campus of the temple. Grooves had been scraped from the sides of the mountain and spikes of metal gouged into the stone, hinting at how a large force would have scaled the cliffs. Equipment was scattered everywhere. For the Fire Nation, they had the custom of incinerating their dead with firebending hot enough to render even the bones to ash, but they did not confer the favor upon the dead of their opponents, and so of the skeletons present through the area, which were in various states, some partially buried, some scattered apart, it was certain they were all Air Nomads. He paused in front of one in particular leaning against a wall, wrapped in tattered saffron-yellow robes with a wooden necklace draped across the sternum, and the courtyard was littered in what of the Fire Nation equipment would not have burned off, rusting helmets and shattered armor. Aang seemed to recognize him.
They made the offer to leave, but Aang replied that he needed to see things for himself, so the trio went to what he called the dormitory and paused in front of a certain door. "This was my room," said Aang. "It was only ten days since I was here." The wooden door was splintered dry from lack of maintenance. It was ajar enough to slip into, but opened further only with difficulty caused by a shift in the frame, emitting a loud, painful scraping noise as he forced it back inch by inch. The interior was simple, just a bed and desk, but covered over with a thick layer of dust. He sat on the bed looking lost, then clutched his head in his hands. "It's true. For a hundred years I was trapped in ice while everyone I knew and loved was being killed."
"Do you want to leave?" asked Katara. "We can go back to the valley."
"No, it's already getting dark. I just want to sleep," he replied. The bedding looked untouched, still made up perfectly despite the dust, and Aang refused to go with them to another area but insisted on cleaning the bedding out and remaining there. At a loss for how to console him, Katara went with Sokka to find another room nearby in reasonable condition and found a broom to sweep it out. It had the same forlorn quality as the abandoned village in the Earth Kingdom had. Katara stripped the top sheet off the bed, removing the greater part of dust, and laid her own sleeping sack atop the soft mattress, but Sokka insisted on sleeping on the ground with a superstitious comment.
As she was drifting to sleep, she thought she heard faint crying from the room Aang had taken.
#
Evening left the valleys prematurely in darkness while the colors of sunset still played across the sky and the peaks were brightly lit with orange and gold. Zuko looked up and saw man-made geometric shapes outlined against the silhouette of the mountain. It was easier to see the hint of the air temple than the faces of his own comrades. They had none of the equipment the original incursion had used to scale the peak. Leaving the komodo rhinos behind, Zuko and Jee went to examine the mountain base. Jee had extensive experience and pointed out to Zuko the traces the force under Sozin had left, able to exposition it with as much detail as if he'd been present. Other mountains had pathways at least partially up their slope, but for the security of the main pavilion the airbenders had not left a way to access their temple for unassisted outsiders. Unlikely to find an air bison sitting around, they needed a way to ascend.
One of the men had said he saw the air bison enter the area yesterday morning. It was certain they were up there. The cliffside was notched from the previous equipment, giving an abundance of hand and footholds, and spikes of metal remained well driven into the rock. Zuko tested one with his weight and found it held him with ease. "We can tie off and climb overnight. Leave the mounts and supplies in the valley." The operation was dangerous in the dark and the wind was bitter. Jee, sparking small flames from his breath to see the hold positions, led the group and tied security ropes to each spike. His position was the most risky, but the men following would have better safety in case of a fall, supported by the weight of the others acting as a stay. His uncle, who had initially complained bitterly, brought up the rear with much encouragement and a slow pace—even he was eager to see the temple. Quietly and with a minimum of necessary illumination the force scaled the mountainside and gathered at the top exhausted in darkness. There was not a single light anywhere in the complex. While waiting for the rest of the men to make the ascent, Zuko scouted the immediate area and found no sign of recent habitation, but they were still in a courtyard far from the main tower.
At the top, huffing for breath and stretching their pained fingers, the group listened to his orders to split up and survey the area. "Be as quiet as a mouse. If you can take them while sleeping we can avoid a large fight and unnecessary casualties. I want them captured alive, however many there are up here. The monk kid might have brought those Water Tribe siblings he was with in the South Pole, so expect to find at least one waterbender. As for the bison keep it alive if possible, but muzzle and restrain it."
With a survey of the campus under a waning crescent moon they divided into pairs and slunk off, leaving Iroh behind to watch for an air bison's departure. He was still exhausted, but the rest of the group looked forward to the most exciting task since they'd been assigned to Zuko six years ago, and far from being out of practice they performed remarkably well. Fire Nation soldiers were not particularly trained for stealth, but, carrying fire at their fingertips, they could make just a candle's amount of light whenever necessary, giving them an advantage moving in darkness. Zuko went with Jee to the main tower, wary of creaking doorways and sleeping monks. However, after an hour of searching they found no one present. They returned to rendezvous point and found the other pairs had been successful. The monk kid and Water siblings were tied in custody kneeling on the floor.
"Is this it? There were no others?"
"These are the only three we found. The rest of the team is moving to subdue the bison. How was the main tower?"
"Empty. Like it's been empty for a century—all we found was dust." With all teams having reported in, he ordered the three ungagged, and from their looks of hatred knew they recognized him. He addressed them coldly, "I don't think you were here for tourism. Immediately after our meeting in that frozen wasteland you darted over here as quickly as you could. What was your purpose?"
He waited and found all three reluctant to speak. Impatiently Zuko lit a fist-sized fire in his palm, to which the girl and her brother jolted back, but the Air Nomad stared with a mix of admiration and anxiety. The prince walked to the young man with the wolf-tail and pressed the flame near to his face, knowing he could feel the heat of it to the point of pain at that distance, and watched him struggle to keep his eyes open as they watered from the intensity of light. Zuko asked, "What is your purpose in coming here so urgently?" He grabbed his tunic with his other hand and pulled him closer, letting the fire waver in front of his face.
"Get away from my brother!" cried the girl. Zuko looked at her curiously, found that her arms were well secured behind her back, and threw her brother to the ground.
Slowly he stood over her, lowered down so her face was towards the fire, and addressed the young woman. "Then you tell me what you're doing here," he said. He noticed she was wearing a betrothal necklace and had a high-class hair ornament decorating the bun pinned low to her neck from which a braid descended. The value of the ornament would have been high, too high for anyone in the South Pole to afford. She glared at him and cursed in reply. It might have been his imagination, but she seemed to be staring at his scar. He placed a fingertip over the marred flesh. "Do you like this? I can give you one to match."
She pressed her lips tight and shook her head, trying not to cry, but wouldn't speak either. The Air Nomad, meanwhile, continued to struggle and squirm. Leaving the girl, Zuko went to try him, and as he loomed over the boy drew still. "Where are the other Air Nomads? We already searched the temple grounds and they aren't here—no one has been. Where are they hiding?"
"I don't know," he stammered. He was a terrible liar, and the only one thus far to speak, so Zuko knelt down and let the younger boy admire the fire more closely. "I really don't know."
"I find it hard to believe you aren't related to the previous Avatar, given the probability of many other Air Nomads surviving Sozin. Where is your family? What happened to the previous Avatar and where is his reincarnation hiding?"
His face was round with youthfulness, still having not even a whisp of facial hair able to grow, and the arrows gleamed in the closeness of the fire's light, though the colors clashed and washed each other out. Grey, round eyes held terror. Before the boy answered, the young man with the wolf-tail did: "He's from a group of Air refugees who had been staying on an island near the South Pole. There aren't many of them, and they keep moving around, trying to avoid the Fire Nation." Zuko looked to him, encourgaging him to continue, while keeping the fire near the arrow-boy. "They don't stay anywhere more than a year and we don't know where they went. He just wanted to travel with us for a while and see where his people came from, that's all."
Zuko considered the words for a moment, then replied, "Why are you answering and not him?" Wolf-tail hadn't expected that response, and Zuko turned back to the younger one. "How many survivors are there?"
"I don't know. The group was mixed, I mean, there were other refugees, too." His voice was weak, and he had trouble meeting Zuko's gaze but instead kept looking to the floor.
"Where was the last place you stayed?"
"In the south, an island. I don't know the name."
"Yet you guided this air bison here with remarkable navigation skill. I find it hard to believe you don't know the name of any of the places you previously stayed. Where are the descendents of the last Avatar?"
"I don't know anything about it. I'm from a group of survivors, we were disorganized and scattered—that's all I was told."
Zuko contemplated him a moment, then firmly said, "You're lying. And you're a horrible liar, too. Just cooperate and tell me the information and I'll leave your group unharmed. I'm not interested in anyone but the Avatar. Now, tell me where he is."
Silence resounded. Zuko, summoning up a large dose of venom, redoubled in his effort to interrogate the young Air Nomad and yanked the boy up to standing by his arm roughly enough that he cried out in pain. Gripping his arm, the prince let the temperature of his palm increase slowly. "I can hurt you. Do I have to?" The clothing and then flesh warmed to a burning temperature and he began squirming.
Unable to tolerate his suffering, the young woman struggled up to her knees and shouted, "Leave him alone! He's just a child. Is this how Fire Nation royalty treats the helpless and vulnerable?"
"No, it's not. If it were my father he'd have burned your limbs off by now. I'm being merciful, and you should be grateful." He dropped the boy's arm and let him collapse to the ground, then moved towards the waterbender, bent down, and grabbed her chin in his fingers. "You're awfully mouthy for a useless peasant. If you don't want your friend to get hurt, just tell me where the Avatar is. You're risking quite a lot to protect someone who hasn't lifted so much as a finger to help you. While the Fire Nation was slaughtering your people," he said, knowing he had hit the mark by the tears in her eyes, "while we killed your fathers and brothers and carted all your waterbenders off to prison or the grave, where was the Avatar? What did he do to stop us?" He released her face and stood back up. "Nothing."
The girl sobbed quietly with her shoulders heaving and her hands still tied behind her back. Turning back to the boy in orange and yellow, Zuko reiterated, "You're wasting your efforts to protect a coward." His face was downturned, staring at his legs crossed on the floor beneath him, and didn't reply. Zuko considered his next move and prepared for a greater show of violence, but noticed the boy take a sharp intake of breath, an intake which didn't stop. He then felt a huge blast of wind throw his hair and clothing back. His eyes instinctively shut, but he sensed the boy had moved, and he sent a blind volley of fire towards where he thought he might be. There were scuffling noises behind him and he was aware of having been pushed back a foot by the wind. When he blinked his eyes open, he saw the first strike had missed its mark and an orange blur was moving to kick him from an impossibly high position. Zuko dipped backwards and slid out of the path of his leg, but didn't expect the accompanying rush of air pressure, which kept him off balance enough that he couldn't follow up immediately. Behind him, the brother pulled his wrist binding apart and moved toward the woman, and by then the rest of Zuko's group had joined the fray. The arrow-boy darted like a monkey through firebursts.
Ducking another attack from the airbender, feeling pissed off and fresh out of mercy, Zuko slammed the younger boy across the abdomen with a flame-wrapped round-kick, knocking him into the wall hard enough to sap the breath from his chest, then turned to shoot a punctuated blast at the brother, who by that time had already cut his sister's bindings and yelped backwards out of the way. The young woman called out, "Aang," to the airbender, who was coughing and regaining his senses. Zuko caught a blur of metal flying towards him.
"Run!"
The boomerang aimed for his head was knocked off course by allied fire, giving Zuko the reprieve to cast a wide band of fire towards the sister and boy. This was blocked by a channel of airbending which dispersed the flames back toward him, and the pair took off running. As he pursued them, the girl glanced behind her and flung water from her pouch towards him. In mid-air the icy dagger she intended for his face was melted by his flame-wrapped fist and scattered as steam around him. The brother was trying to catch up to his friends, dodging fireblasts from the others, and took a poorly thought out detour to slide across the floor and grab his boomerang off the ground. Zuko built up a large strike and aimed it for his wide-open flank. Fear framed the young man's eyes as he turned to view the fire.
Underneath Zuko's footing the ground turned slick with ice. He tumbled, crashed into the brother, and the fire extinguished on the ground around them with only a flicking pain of close embers raining across both their bodies. The brother clutched his weapon as the two slid together by momentum across the floor. Zuko flinched as a burst of fire struck near his head.
He looked up to see what the sister and boy were doing—the airbender's hands were unbound and he was the one turned backwards towards them, having changed the water from the previous attack to ice, while the girl was glancing anxiously around them looking for an exit and hadn't known what happened. His chest tightened. In his astonishment, Zuko forgot his current position and found himself flung off the brother, who then scrambled up and darted after the two. Another burst of fire carried towards his back, passing just over Zuko's head close enough and hot enough to singe loose strands from his phoenix-tail. "Watch where the hell you're shooting!" Getting up hoping his crewmembers wouldn't roast him from behind, Zuko bounded forwards and led the pursuit. The three ahead hurled themselves around a corner and he skid into the wall of the turn just behind them and made to follow.
Backpeddling off balance with his arms windmilling, he wavered over the ledge of a sudden drop before able to fall backwards to safety, hitting the ground hard on his backside. His legs scraped against the side of the cliff in stomach-turning dead space. Not a corridor—a window.
The trio hugged each other as the airbender broke their fall with a swirling ball of wind, and they raced off as soon as they touched the ground. Meanwhile, his men flew around the corner behind him and bashed their knees into his back, falling in a tumble around the disoriented prince in just as much shock as he'd been. One flipped over the backs of the others and fell over the side of the ledge, scrambling to hold onto solid ground with clawing fingers. His upper body slipped lower from the height until his chin cracked the stone ledge and his hands slipped further back. Zuko, just able to move enough from the entanglement, grasped his forearm and held on. "Help him up!" He grunted under the weight until someone climbed over to lift him to stable ground. The group breathed in relief at the narrow avoidance of a steep fall of three stories to hard, broken ground below. Trying to refind the airbender, he was awarded only a fleeting glance of the group disappearing behind an annex on the far side of the complex.
"Hurry up and go after them!" They shoved back through the window-way in confusion and sprinted down the halls, Zuko following with electricity in his bloodstream. He could picture his father mocking him for being too soft, for letting them get away with just a few superficial burns. If it were Azula, she would have started with the fire, not with questions.
Sprinting across the pathway, which was nothing but a narrow bridge of rock with no railings, he found the other two crewmembers sprawled on the ground unconscious with his uncle nearby sitting on the ground holding his ankle. In the sky was a streak of orange—a glider—dropping the three into the saddle of the air bison already mid-air and distant. Zuko drew a large reservoir of rage and hurled a comet-like fireshot towards them, which didn't make even half the distance before fizzling out. He could barely discern, in the dawn light, their faces looking back towards him as they sailed into the distance.
On the ground were clumps of singed fur scattered about the two unconscious men. His uncle struggled to stand up, leaning against the trunk of a twisted tree with exposed roots looping over the ground, favoring one leg. "Why didn't you stop them?" Zuko demanded.
Iroh shielded his eyes from the newly risen sun and squinted to where the bison had gone off. "What, from this distance? Prince Zuko, not even a dragon could have made a shot like that." Apparently expecting an angry outburst from his nephew, the retired general hesitated at the following silence, and then turned to the young man curiously.
Distanced from the rest of the group who were tending to the injured men and unable to overhear, Zuko replied in a low voice, "Uncle, I've found the Avatar. The Air Nomad isn't just an airbender—I saw him bend water."
"Well, I would congratulate you, but your long-cherished prize has just flown over the horizon. What are you planning to do?"
"We'll have to go through the passes by komodo rhino. They can't make it off the island in one go. Uncle, don't tell the crew. I'm the only one who witnessed it. I want to control this information so word doesn't get out and attract competition."
"That would be wise. For now let's regroup and perhaps wake the others from their nap. That bison gave them a walloping."