Author's Note:
We've been working on this series for some time now. Expect updates in bursts of 1-3 short chapters at a time. We have a lot of long-term plans for this story set in stone, but we are very open to feedback— quite frankly, we feed off of it. We're excited to share these characters and hope you'll enjoy getting to know them as much as we've enjoyed making them.

Content Warning:
If you are underage or particularly sensitive, later parts of this work/series may contain content that you might find unsettling. This work has its rating for a reason. While this isn't strictly a dark work of fiction, there are far lighter things to read and if that is your preference, looking elsewhere is ideal.

Plip. Plip. Plip.

Softly, relentlessly, rain fell against the forest canopy before dripping through the leaves and onto the brush below with a single-minded persistence that nature only seemed to possess. Such profound thoughts like these were interrupted as droplets made their way down the foliage, only to splatter down against Bahu's skin, inviting the cold that came with being wet into him. He shivered to himself as his eyes roamed over the remains of a makeshift camp; scanning for the trail the owner had hopefully left behind. Judging by the ashen wood in the fire pit, they were only a few hours behind at best. No quarry was too crafty for Bahu and his boys, he thought as he smirked.

Or they wouldn't be if Pohi would get his ass moving and find them a proper damned trail to follow. Bahu inspected the site once again; the fire was reasonably well-hidden, which had kept it from being sighted earlier. Fortunately, this protection had kept the elements from getting at it and left them an indicator of how long it had been out. Whoever this person was, they didn't want to be caught traipsing through his territory. Smart, but not smart enough. Anyone who didn't want to be found this badly surely was worth a pretty copper in Bahu's eyes. The less they wanted to be found, the more they were likely worth, and this was smelling like a payout. He took a sniff of the crisp air for effect. Well, a payout and ash, he amended. Bahu had a nose for these kinds of things and his was telling him he was onto something.

A sparrowkeet whistle caught his attention, or at least, that's what it sounded like to the unobservant. Bahu knew Pohi's subtle notes and knew he had found something worth bringing attention to. Sure enough, when Bahu came level with him, he was studying indentations in the rain-softened ground. They had found the trail at last.

As the group stalked along their quarry's path after their own stray bird, Bahu found his mind wandering off the task with every droplet that pierced the trees, only to land on him. The rain hadn't ceased for days now; it seemed as if the spirits had decided to make Bahu and his boys as uncomfortable as they could. Tomani always harped on them that they should respect the spirits, but Bahu was more of the opinion that the spirits could use a good whack or two from his axe. Tomani was odd like that: her reverence for something she couldn't see always baffled him. Honestly, Bahu had considered axing her too. Every little thing, every success or misfortune was due to the spirits and not his exceptional planning.

Successful pillaging? Spirits did it.

Tripped over a root in the woods? Spirits did that too.

Eat bad fried dough and spend the entire night having uncomfortable shits? You had better believe the spirits cursed your guts while they were at it. All this interference from the spirits, all because the Avatar had run off and vanished some eighty years ago. Still, Tomani was an honorary boy and he at least pretended to listen to her ramblings.

Their trail led them past an overturned cart in the woods. Ruined as it was, the frame still held together and might be a welcome refuge for a weary traveler seeking shelter from the elements. Nature had already begun to reclaim the vehicle as a blanket of moss and brush now coated it. Pride bloomed in his chest as he remembered the pile of silver the boys had raked in from that banana merchant. A true Earth Kingdom entrepreneur.

The Earth Kingdom. Bahu's mind drifted as he thought about his place in it, and its place in the world at large. It was the last holdout against the Fire Nation since the war began in Bahu's grandfather's age and a true bastion of strength and stability.

If you believed that nonsense.

Recruiters loved to spout lines just like that one as they roved from town to town, enticing the young and stupid alike in their recruitment drives. Sure, it was the biggest nation on the map, Bahu would give them that, but it was nowhere near as noble and orderly as rich folk liked to crow about. The most lucrative business opportunity in the Earth Kingdom was one of the oldest professions in the book: Banditry. Sure, the wealthy were safe in their big cities with their walls and guards and retinues, but out here in the sticks? The only security was what you could claw out for yourself with your own hands.

The Eighty Years War had taken its toll on the Kingdom whether or not they wanted to admit it. Soldiers, plentiful decades ago, maintained peace and patrolled roads. However, as the war dragged on, soldiers were slowly replaced by militias that the towns threw together before becoming stretched too thin to be effective. Recruiters snapped up those who could fight up in the name of dying for their glorious homeland. Bahu had been that wide-eyed once, but military service had only shown him that their grand strategy was more or less equivalent to throwing grain at a grindstone and hoping it would somehow break it.

Defecting to become a bandit was far easier and more profitable than dying in a ditch with half his skin burned off for a nation that would never care. It got easier and easier as time went by too, as the only people left to defend backwoods like there were the people too old or infirm for recruiters to even want. Both were his favorite types of militia, as Bahu and his Boys could handle them.

Running water brought him back to reality as they neared a familiar stream. Besides the rushing sound it generated, Bahu heard the telltale sound of two rocks striking together and knew they had caught up to their payday. He signed a series of gestures to the others to make sure Pohi and Tomani stayed quiet while he looked beyond the treeline. There, at the water's edge, hunched in over what looked like the beginnings of an unlit cooking fire, was a young man.

Bahu was a practiced purloiner, and he put these skills to the test to size up the potential payout. He had long unruly hair, pale skin, and came clad in a variety of greens from his pants to his kimono. In a word, he simply summed up the man as "homeless," this guy could have passed for an Earth Kingdom peasant. Bahu let out a silent sigh as he decided he was completely valueless, or at least until he moved. As he did, Bahu caught a twinkle and amended his assessment.

He carried a weapon.

A sword hilt peeked out from his far side, catching Bahu's attention. As he moved and shifted, Bahu got a better look at it: long and gently curved. At first glance, it looked like a scimitar a pirate would carry. It was too thin though and seemed out-of-place being carried upside down with the blade facing up. Bahu wracked his brain, trying to place it before he remembered that there was only one sword that checked all of those boxes.

A Katana.

Uncommon in the Earth Kingdom; but not unheard of, either. Few and far between, they usually came from isolated areas with secluded sects of warriors, like that island of only women off the coast of Chin. Overseas, they found them most often in the Fire Nation. This last thought perked Bahu's entrepreneur spirit, and it began ringing bells in his head as he considered how much they could pull pawning off an oddity like an exotic sword. Better yet, there was a bounty out on Fire Nation spies. If they brought this guy in, they were looking at some serious coin. Even if he wasn't, he couldn't protest if they took his tongue. However, the unruly hair might make it a hard sell, but Tomani could spruce him up on their way into town. After all, Fire Nation soldiers seemed to pride their hair care almost as much as their imaginary honor.

The guy leaned down again to start the fire; but once again, the flint wouldn't catch. Even without the rain, it was way too wet for the fire to catch out here in the open, but he persisted away. Eventually, as Bahu watched, he seemed to reach a breaking point and with an audible curse in frustration and a snap; the fire caught and sprung to life. It was weak at first, but he tended it carefully and it soon grew large enough to cook with. The man seemed to think so too as he pulled over a few wooden skewers from his other side, each with a fish on them and set them against the blaze.

About to be taken captive, and he still had the manners to fix them lunch? How thoughtful.

Bahu nodded to Pohi and Tomani. The three spread out along the treeline to encircle their meal ticket slowly, a slugworm's pace. Once he was sure that there was no direction to go but the river, he signaled his Boys to close in as he exited the cover of the trees.

"You there!" Bahu called, making sure he was the focus so the others could get into position undetected. Bahu was the frontman, and this was his show. He'd be damned if he didn't at least get a little dialogue in.

As Bahu closed in, the guy looked up and Bahu got a good look at those signature Fire Nation yellow eyes.

Jackpot.

"I'm sorry what?" His posture was wary, but no matter. They had the numbers if he used that ragged-looking pig sticker on his hip.

Slowly, deliberately, Bahu closed the distance with the traveler. Puffing himself up, he put on his most pompous sounding voice: "We are humble acquisition agents, and you are a suspicious character in our… precinct." He fumbled over his knowledge of fancy words as Pohi sniggered. Hopefully, this guy was as much of a bumpkin as he looked. On closer inspection, he couldn't be any older than twenty.

For his part, he looked confused and took a moment to piece his response together. Like he was taking stock of Bahu's ragged countenance. "So you're robbing me?" He said slowly.

Bahu should have cursed the spirits; this guy was smarter than a farmer.

"We sure are," said Bahu. He struggled for a beat to maintain a straight face.

"And what makes you think I have money?"

"Well-" There was no use in continuing the game, their time was valuable, and that fish was going to overcook. "Listen, uh… you?"

"Shuzen," he said.

"Really?" He scoffed. "Could you not be any more obviously Fire Nation?" Bahu put a hand up in mock disbelief. "Next time, not that there will be one… but next time at least use a semi plausible alias. Like Lee! There's a million Lees out there. Anyway—" Bahu hefted the large woodcutting axe over his shoulder and brought it to bear. "Seeing as you're not dumb enough to fall for our usual routine, I'll be straight with you; we're gonna sell you as a spy to the local authority. You can come quietly or I can brain you with this here axe, your choice."

Shuzen put on a face as he weighed his options seriously. Bahu saw the boy tense and go for his sword. Rolling his eyes, Bahu lifted his axe. The sooner this was over, the sooner he could eat.

The spirits were not in agreement as a rustling sound stole Bahu's attention. An exhausted-looking man stumbled out from the brush. Garbed in serf's clothing, he bent down and panted before he seemed to notice them. An ally? Being so far out, it couldn't be the city guard patrols or anyone official. With equal surprise at seeing anyone else, the newcomer looked and blinked a few times before frantically pointing towards the woods.

"Please sirs! We need—"

Shuzen's attention never wavered. Only the ghost of Bahu's military training caused him to jerk back in time. A long curved sword slashed up through the space his torso had occupied, just missing him by the breadth of his shirt. The dull twang of a bowstring was audible; no arrow sailed past. Bahu turned his head, ready to berate his cohort for being so slow, but a shiver ran up his spine as he ducked away from another deadly arc.

Spirits! This kid was fast!

Bahu barely had time to bring the haft of his weapon up to block the follow up strike and as the hardened steel sliced through the weathered handle. Shuzen dropped low, scooping up something from the fire. Twisting around Bahu, he used Bahu's bulk as cover against a follow up arrow. Pohi was fool enough to fire anyway, and the next shot came uncomfortably close to Bahu's other boys. He never got a chance to berate Pohi for his carelessness. The boy was throwing whatever the object was at Pohi before he could clumsily string another arrow. It was a fish-laden skewer which, despite its weight, zipped like a maddened hornet and buried itself in Pohi's shoulder, fish and all. He let out a startled yelp and dropped the half-drawn bow in surprise; the arrow flying off uselessly.

Tomani had hesitated thanks to the newcomer, but as Pohi's first arrow caught the man from the woods, she settled into a low, grounded stance. She brought her arms up in a powerful thrust, and a spire of earth pierced through the ground, nearly nailing Shuzen and forcing him to back out of Bahu's space, saving his life from a follow up sword swing.

"You took your sweet time Tomani!" Bahu called as he took in a grateful breath.

"And you promised an easy job Bahu!" she grunted concentrating on trying to entrap their opponent in walls of earth. Another earthen pillar jumped up and Bahu lost sight of Shuzen as he dodged and weaved, carrying the two further apart without striking or catching him. This wasn't good, they were used to collecting much more helpless people. He could already see the sweat on Tomani's brow.

Shuzen let the flow of battle carry him away from the group. Bahu reacted too late; he was out of range, fleeing into the trees. Bahu turned around and surveyed the damage from their fight. Pohi was scrabbling to bandage his pierced shoulder. Tomani was panting under the exertion of so much bending. Bahu paced the riverbank before coming to a stop at the still form lying near its banks. The newcomer looked prim and proper, aside from fear frozen on his face. Pohi's arrow had sunk into his neck and he stared sightlessly up at Bahu. Bahu took another look around and let out a sigh; both his potential paydays had gone up in smoke thanks to their incompetence. He looked up at the clouds and cursed the spirits for the umpteenth time.

"Well shit."