Air, Water, Earth, Fire.
The next morning I am sitting on the front steps to the Fisherman's house thinking a bit more about our situation. Something that the old man said yesterday was starting to allow me to come up with an actual plan of sorts. Tomoko then comes out with a sack.
"What's with the sack?" I asked.
"The old man gave us some supplies for the road to thank us again for helping him bring the fish back here." She told me.
"I hope you thanked him for us."
"I did. Also were you just thinking about something?"
"Yeah. Yesterday the old man brought up the fact that Omashu is trying to establish itself as a independent power. I might be spitballing here, however it might be a good place for us to head to. Especially with its history of being supportive of my predecessors."
"I can see it, even if the chances are slim, there are at least the Badger Moles."
"Exactly, now let's get going."
We continued on our journey, this time with a destination. The one thing about the Earth Federation that hasn't changed from prior governments is how under developed it still is. The population may be double what it was at the end of the hundred years war according to the last census, something that was done fifty years ago. But besides the railroads built by Kuvira, many of which have to be in disrepair at this point, not much has went into infrastructure. That's the issue, you had one leader who actually tried to fix things but was over thrown because she threatened the global status quo. However, her use of super weapons can be considered questionable. A mistake I will not repeat.
Near the end of the day we come across a river, the bridge is out and there is a young boy just sitting there. He had brown hair, green eyes, 4ft tall and still growing, and his clothes were basically rags with the exception of his straw hat. So with it being our only option we go over to talk to the kid.
"So what happened?" I asked.
"Bridge gave out and I am waiting for a boat to come by so I can get across safety." The kid replied.
"How long will that take?" Tomoko asked.
"I don't know, a few days maybe."
"You going home?" I inquired.
"Yeah, well what's left of it."
"Say we could help you out, would you take us there?"
"I don't see why not."
I then waterbend an Ice Bridge for us to use to cross over the river safely. The kid looks at me briefly before taking the chance to run across. He immediately signals to follow. Once we were over to the other side I get rid of all evidence of my water bending to cover our tracks in case we were being fallowed. The kid leads us to a run down house in the middle of the forest. Place had to of been built during Aang's time or older. The kid plops down on a home made bean bag and points to like 3 others before saying. "Sit."
"So kid…" I start to say before being cut off.
"Don't call me that, my name is Ru."
"Ok, Ru, where are your parents?"
"Don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? Were they killed? Did they abandon you?" Tomoko asked.
"Could be both. One day a spirit showed up and the next morning they were gone."
"So you're just out here alone?" I ask.
"I'm not the only one. Just most kids end up joining war bands in order to fill the void."
"But you don't want to do that?"
"I mean, I can fight, but I am not going to die for some random person who probably doesn't even care about me."
"You could come with us."
"Why should I do that?"
"Besides the fact we could kill you for risk of espousing us to the wrong people." Tomoko callously states before I punch her in the arm. "Ow."
"What my loyal, but unpredictable companion meant to say was we are trying to travel discretely and I revealed something about myself to you that if got out could reveal our location to some bad people. Because of this we would rather you come with us than have to worry about someone finding you and risk you revealing us." I say quickly.
"What do I get out of it?"
"The Truth of who we are and a surrogate family."
He thinks about it for a moment before answering. "If you are for real and not lying to me, then I want the best food money can buy as soon as possible."
"That might take some time but yeah I can do that."
"Good. Now tell me who are you?"
"I am the Avatar."
"You're joking?"
"No he's not. I have been teaching him Air bending." Tomoko said.
"I already seen, water but show me Earth, Fire and Air."
"I can only do Fire and Air for you right now, watch." I balance a small flame on my finger and I blast air out of my other hand.
"Ok, I believe you, but I am surprised you haven't learned Earth yet."
"That's next on my list, I just need to find someone to train me and Omashu is the best bet."
"Omashu huh? Going to be a long journey. However I can guide us there and there are some lesser known routes we can take to avoid whoever we are trying to avoid."
"Good, because the faster we get there the less likely we are to get found."