Avatar The Last Airbender: Untold Tales (IC)

[Aeritai]

It was another quiet night on the train as half of the people were asleep, however Okesa couldn't sleep for the last two nights the young Firebender kept having nightmares not knowing what they meant. Okesa looked up and saw the sun began to rise as the train continued to its destination to Ba Sing Se the great capital of the Earth Kingdom. Leaning on him asleep was his lover and best friend La Toh who has always been with him ever since Okesa came to the Earth Kingdom to start his new life. Okesa looked at La Toh with a gentle smile as she snored lightly ever since the death of his father and leaving the Fire Nation, Okesa use to think his life would forever broken and that he would have to continue his new life without the support of his family and friends, but ever since he met La Toh his life felt better knowing he has someone that loves and supports him. After a few minutes had passed La Toh started to wake up as her jade green eyes looked into Okesa's steel grey eyes.

"Good morning sunshine." Okesa said teasing her.

"Good morning sweetie." La Toh said as she yawned and then gave Okesa a small kiss on the cheek.

"Did you sleep well?" La Toh asked.

"Not really.... Its the same nightmare I keep having over and over again. Every night the nightmares get worse and I still can't understand what they mean." Okesa sighed.

"I'm sure your nightmares will stop once we settle down in Ba Sing Se, you do not have to worry about the Fire Nation hurting you again." La Toh said as she rubbed Okesa's arm to soothe him.

"I hope your right La." Okesa replied.

"Just trust me everything will be alright Ba Sing Se is a safe city and even if the Fire Nation does come to invade they're going have a hard time invading." La Toh explained.

"Here how about I get up and get some tea for you? My grandmother always said that tea calms the mind."

"Yeah maybe some tea will help..." Okesa said.

"Good! I'll be right back!" La Toh exclaimed as she got up and went to go look for the tea servers.

After La Toh had left to go get tea, Okesa leaned back in his seat sighing as he felt bad for keeping La Toh in the dark of who he really us. There were moments where Okesa wanted to tell her the truth, but in those moments he was too afraid on how she might react to him being a Firebender as well as a former citizen of the Fire Nation. Would she leave him and report him to one of the guards where he would be accused of being a spy or would she stay despite the secrets that he had kept from her. As these thoughts raced through his mind Okesa didn't know what to do anymore, without his father's guidance the young Firebender felt lost and confused. Okesa soon snapped out of his thoughts as La Toh came back with a cup of tea smiling at him as she handed the cup of tea over to him.

"Here you go Jasmine Tea this will for sure calm your mind!" La Toh said as she sat down by Okesa.

"Jasmine Tea huh? My mother use to drink this all the time." Okesa said as he took a sip of tea.

"Sounds like your mother was a woman of taste, Jasmine Tea is the best tea to drink to calm the mind." La Toh replied.

"Indeed it is." Okesa said as he finished his tea.

"So how long until we reach Ba Sing Se?"

"About a few hours give or take." La Toh said as she lean her head on Okesa's shoulders.

"Which means you have plently of time to take a nap I'll wake you when we have reached Ba Sing Se." La Toh promised.

"Thank you." Okesa said as he gave La Toh a small kiss on the forehead before falling into sleep until they reached Ba Sing Se.

After a few hours the train arrived in Ba Sing Se everyone on the train looked through the windows amazed at the capital city of the Earth Kingdom. Okesa was also looking through the window also amazed at the view of the city his father would always tell him stories about Ba Sing Se and its culture. Now seeing it with his own eyes Okesa's breath taking away now that he had arrived in Ba Sing Se after a long journey. The Earthbenders that were pushing the train stopped as it entered the train station once the train had stopped and everything was completely settled the passengers mostly made up of refugees and tourist walked out of the train. Both Okesa and La Toh stepped out of the train together as they held hands trying to get through the crowd to get inside the city.

Time to start a new life. Okesa thought to himself.

[American Pere Housh]

30 miles South of Ba Sing Se


Su Wen woke up from a good nights sleep and went to a nearby river to take a bath. After 20 minutes of bathing in the warm lakewater, she steps out of the water and dries herself off use her water bending. She puts on clothes that she is from the Northern Water Tribe and went to cook herself some breakfast. While her breakfast was cooking, Su fed her horse Jian some apples she had inside her pack.

30 minutes later

After Su finishes her breakfast, she started packing up her camp site and setting the bags on Jian. She uses her water bending to make sure that the fire was fully put out She climbed up on Jian and they started heading towards Ba Sing Se in hopes of defending the city from the Fire Nation as views the Fire Lord Sozin as warmonger and vows to defeat the Fire Nation but to do so she would need to create a team. In her heart, she knew that the Avatar was the key to defeating the Fire Nation.


4 days later

Su arrives at the gates to Ba Sing Se where she handed the guards her ID telling them who she was. They granted Su and her Jian entry into the city. She looks at how different it is from home thinking,[i]"Wow, The architecture is vastly different than from back home. She looks up to see a train arriving at the train station, "We certainly don't have those at home." She and her horse walk by two women before stopping asking, "Hey you two would happen to know where the hotel do you?"

[Somerania]

Morning

It was already dawn and Yiren was riding a horse ostrich he stole from a family that gave him shelter after fleeing the warzone now he rides for ba sing se, he expects he will arrive there in 3 weeks, his plan is to go to the rumored evacuation point and then get on a ferry to the great city of Ba sing se.

1 hour later Yiren had to stop and look for breakfast then after another hour he has found 3 apples and a lop-eared rabbit which he had to skin and cook it, first using his short jian he skinned it and he swiftly cooked it using firebending then had a some water from his bottle, fed the ostrich horse and went on his way

After 3 hours of riding suddenly he was being chased by four men also on ostrich horses he thought they were bandits and suddenly Yiren jumps of his ostrich horse and fire lashes the ground and the four men fall over from their ostrich horses then one of the men shouts die!!! As he tries to attack Yiren but the man is set on fire after Yiren shoots a fire stream at him, the other men try to flee but Yiren kills them all using fire missiles, he looted the men and he got 600 Earth kingdom silver pieces and catched up to a ostrich horse then went on his way to ba sing se

[Kowani]

The Mountain’s Daughter, Ba Sing Se

Serei woke up the same way he had for the past 45 years-at the crack of dawn. Laying in bed, for a while, he considered the news he had heard. The war was not going well for the Earth Kingdom, and it seemed every day, new kids were brought to his little orphanage, their parents lost to the war. He prayed then, for the soldiers who fought, for this children whose parents were lost, for the Earth itself, ravaged by the marks of War. Looking out the window, he smiled. It was a new day.

Prayers concluded, he set about to sweeping and dusting, to make the whole place shine and sparkle. It was easy to dust when you could move it with your mind, after all. Or, he thought with a slight chuckle at the memory of one would-be thief, choke people with it. Moving about the orphanage, cleaning all the while, he hummed a soft tune t’himself, not quite cheerful, but not mournful either.

As the sun created the Great Wall of the City, Serei closed you his doors, and left for the market. It was Hana’s 12th birthday, and that meant sweet-plums.

[Somerania]

the arrival

After 2 weeks and 4 days of travelling Yiren arrived at the secluded cove of Full Moon Bay in the east lake located south of ba sing se where he used his passport to get on a ferry to the impenetrable city but he sneaked fresh food on to the ferry after hearing they served rotten food

Soon Yiren was on the monorail to the crime ridden lower ring of ba sing se
He was amazed at the sight of the agrarian zone an became excited as the train got closer to the inner walls and suddenly the monorail came into the inner walls and the view of ba sing se was breath taking the green roof tiles, tea shops and blacksmith shops dot the cityscape but he knew he had to keep his hopes down because he was gonna be in the lower ring

A week has passed since Yiren arrived in ba sing se he has rented a small apartment with two bedrooms one kitchen and one bathroom for 30 silver pieces a month, his monthly income is 45 silver pieces, he is a bounty hunter often hunting down criminals inside the big city for money.

[Dentali]

Koyi Beifong
Taku, Western Earth Kingdom



Taku Burned

Despite the thousands of Earth Kingdom Troops, militia and benders defending the city of Taku they were completely overwhelmed by the utter superiority of the Fire Nation. Their tactics, technology and economic prowess were beyond anything expected by the defenders. Still the stubborn defense of the city resulted in house to house fighting, for all the good it did. In the end it just caused the firebenders to clear out every home with flame, destroying the city. Causalities were over 50% for the earth kingdom.

Among the stream of survivors was Koyi Beifong who had been creating a series of physical barriers to impede the Fire Nation troops chasing the column of troops and refugees. Landslides, trenches, walls of stone and earth kept the Fire Nation from reaching the retreating army but it might not be enough with mounted Fire Nation Troops managing to keep pace and bypass many impediments.

Beifong however knew where they were heading, a nearby river had the only bridge for several miles, the refugees crossing it and then destroying it behind them might be enough for them to get a substantial distance from the Fire Nation. Beifong and 25 volunteers stood their ground at the bridge, creating a makeshift earthwork wall and trenches. They would buy as much time as possible.

[United Human Planets]

Sito Of The Southern Tribe
Western Earth Kingdom
Near Taku

Sito gripped the ropes of her cutter, watching in the distance as a massive pillar of smoke rose up from the distance. It stretched up from a small needle point, where she could just make out the orange of flames, and then stretched into the sky like a long black scar. Sito shivered at the sight of it, dropping from the rail and back onto the deck as ash began to drift down around her, staining the crisp white fur collar of her jacket. She pulled and tugged at a series of ropes, tightening the sails and reigning in her speed as she approached a series of bends in the river. Sniffing and running her hand under the bottom of her nose, she climbed back up to the rudder, and carefully steered around the bends. In the distance, she could hear the sounds of fighting, a series of crashes and shouts as well as metal hitting metal. Looking over to her left shoulder in the direction of the fighting, she watched as a large hill seemed to collapse, tumbling down the slope onto whichever unlucky souls were beneath it. A stream of flames shot out over the tops of the trees, and a series of large stones flew up and over the fighting in a wide arc.

Sito turned back to the river, setting her rudder down as she came to another straight section and stood to readjust her sails again. She glanced up at the long blue pennant, and untied a rope, dragging her sail from one end of the boat to the other and tying it down to the rail, leaning backwards to pull the rope as tight as she could. Not long after leaving the South, she had not tied her sail down tight enough during heavy winds, and it had snapped and tossed the sail every which way. It was a miracle it had survived, and she was not planning to take the chance again.

Looking up from her ropes, Sito groaned, and quickly ran back to the rudder as a sharp turn in the river fast approached. She should have just gone around the Earth Kingdom, as opposed to trying to cut through on a river. Tugging hard, she dragged the rudder around, pulling her cutter to a left hand turn and just barely gliding around the bend. Breathing out with relief, she pushed the rudder back the other way, turning the cutter to the right, and making it through the two turns, and found herself confronted with a large bridge, hundreds of beaten, soot covered Earth Kingdom soldiers marching across it. Sito leaped up, running for her ropes to tie her sails. She tugged on the knots, releasing several as she went, before stopping at the front of her cutter and hefting the left anchor with a grunt and tossing it into the river. Turning, she picked up the right anchor, and throwing all her weight behind it threw it into the river as well. As she ran back for the ropes, the cutter jerked, and Sito nearly fell over, catching herself on the mast before pulling herself up the rigging. Straddling the sails, she began to haul them up, dragging them one hand over the other and breathing out sighs of relief ever time she felt her cutter slow down. Just one step further from hitting the bridge and destroying her mast.

When finally she had managed to stop her boat completely, Sito sat atop her sails, wiping her head with her sleeve, trying to stop the sweat from pouring into her eyes. Groaning at her sore arms, Sito carefully peeled her fur lined jacket off, and dropped it in a ball to the deck below, and turned back to the downtrodden soldiers. "Hey!" she said, waving her arms to get someones attention, "whats happening? Where are you going?"

"Taku's fallen," said a soldier, his helmet dented in the middle and sitting on his head at an odd angle. "We lost at least half of our men, we're pulling back. Hopefully this river will hold them off."

"What do you mean?" called back Sito, "I need to get up this river, where can I get around this?"

"You're looking at it," said the soldier. "We're gonna blow this bridge, its the only one for miles." With a shrug, the soldier leaned down and picked up a large warhammer, throwing it over his shoulder and trudging on down the road, looping his arm under another's and helping a third man carry their wounded comrade. Sito watched them go, before slowly climbing back down the rigging to the deck, and leaned against her boats railing, watching the fire spread and listening to the sounds of fighting in the distance.

[Dentali]

Koyi Beifong
Taku, Western Earth Kingdom



Beifong fought back the tears of rage building in her eyes. Peasants and fleeing soldiers near the rear of the line were being run down and slaughtered by the Fire Nation and their steeds. Every muscle in her body wanted to rush forward and perhaps save a few but she knew her position could not be abandoned.

Creating quake after quake, throwing boulder after boulder she and her bender allies stayed in their superior defensive position to beat off waves of Fire Nation Soldiers. Flame engulfed and swept over the makeshift walls and trench but they couldn't penetrate. The heavy weapons of the Fire Nation were too slow to pursue the fleeing Earth Kingdom forces and civilians, so instead Calvary made consistent charges against the fortifications. In between attacks they continued to attack the stragglers who kept haphazardly appearing. Group of a half dozen to several dozen kept popping up and Beifong's forces kept delaying the destruction of the bridge to let them through. One by one the 25 volunteers were getting picked off...

Distracted by these thoughts Beifong didn't see the latest group of refugees turn and draw blades, suddenly attacking the Earthbenders. Within moments 3 of her comrades were dead, throats slit or blades in their back. The Fire Nation infiltrators attacked without mercy and the confusion sowed was too much for the defenders

"Retreat!!! Across the bridge!!!" Beifong yelled at her men as blood soaked the ground and she removed the head of one of her attackers with her short sword. She rushed across the bridge, a old woman running beside her was hit with an arrow and fell, a swarm of arrows followed striking many. Unable to wait any longer and with Fire Nation riders on the bridge entangle with her men she gave the team on the other side a signal. The waters rumbled beneath her and a large spire shot out of the river and pierced the bridge.

Beifong and all those on the bridge were thrown wide as the bridge was demolished to splinters. Beifong hit the water and then all went dark.

[United Human Planets]

Sito Of The Southern Tribe
Western Earth Kingdom
Near Taku

Sito crouched beneath her boats railing, watching in awe as the fighting drew closer and closer. Soon, it was on the shores of the river itself, mobs of civilians and soldiers all mixed together, running headlong away from the Fire Nation cavalry. As everything began to fall apart, Sito quickly dashed too and fro, ducking and dodging around bursts of flame and stone flying every which way as she prepared her boat to sail again, trying to prepare it so that she could get moving as quickly as possible. She turned her head up at the sound of a woman shouting, pulling out individual soldiers and calling for volunteers, before leading a small detachment back across the river. Creating fortifications using earthbending, the twenty some odd soldiers and their leader began to fight back as best they could, holding the line and dragging across as many stragglers as they could. In the distance, Sito could see the fire spreading across the trees, and she wished she could be closer, where she could use her water to help control the spread. But now was not the time to be thinking of that.

Turning on her heal, she grabbed hold of the left anchor, and began dragging it back aboard. Throwing all her weight into it, she pulled backwards, the rope piling up around her feet as the metal scraped along the wooden sides before clattering to the deck. Spinning around, she began to work on pulling up the second. Behind her she heard frantic, barking orders, and looked up in time to see the woman she had seen before, clearly the commander of the soldiers, running back across the bridge and waving her arms. Sito scrunched her eyebrows, looked back across the river as she finally pulled up the second anchor, and ran back to tug at the ropes holding her sails down. With a flurry, they fell away from the rigging and caught the wind. As she went to pull the ropes on the second sail, the air around her shook, and a pillar of earth rocketed from beneath the river and caught the underside of the bridge, destroying it in the process. Sito covered her head as planks and splinters of wood poured down around her, and watched as the last remaining soldiers were thrown into the river.

Sito stood a moment, looking down into the water and watched in surprise as the officer in charge hit the waves and began to sink to the bottom. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open as she tried to comprehend what she had just seen, before the sound of an arrow whizzing over her head snapped Sito back into focus. Snapping her head up to see several Fire Nation archers pointing at her, Sito crouched down, pulling herself closer to the edge and tugging her boots off as she went. She heard the sound of several arrows thunking into the side of her boat, before she quickly pulled herself up. Standing on the railing, she located where the officer had fallen, before squatting down and launched herself into the water, performing a well practiced dive as two more arrows whizzed by her ears. When she hit the water, Sito pumped her arms behind her, bending the water and propelling herself down. As she felt herself slow, Sito pushed her arms back forward and kicked with her feet, before tugging at the water again and shooting herself the last way to who quarry. Wrapping her arms around the officer, Sito turned herself in the water and planted her feet on the muddy river bed, before pushing off and rocketing herself upwards through the water.

In a splash, Sito burst from the water, flying upwards into the air and angling for her boat again. She caught her legs on the side, crashing into the wood and shouting in pain as she cartwheeled onto the deck, dropping the woman in the process alongside with her. Several more arrows hit the side, and Sito could see the flames licking up from the one that had hit her mask. Her adrenaline flaring, she pushed herself up with a pained moan, and took a proper stance. Flashing one arm outwards, she bent the water off of herself and splashed it against the arrow, before moving her arms upwards in a wide arc and pulling a wave up from the river to push against the side of her boat and put out the remaining flames. Gliding with her own weight, Sito stepped forwards, moving her arms in tandem while maintaining her wide stance, and pushed the wave towards the shore, crashing it into the beach and slamming into the archers. Swept off their feet, several were pushed up further onto the beach, while others were dragged backwards by the retreating wave and into the water. Sito stepped back, surprised at herself, before quickly gathering her wits about her and loosing the final sail. She only wished she had an airbender with her, she couldn't get away from this place fast enough. But they were all dead now she supposed.

As the boat began to move, Sito quickly ducked inside its small cabin and retrieved her weapons. Hooking her club into the cloth she wore as a belt and snatching the spear from where it leaned against the wall, she quickly ran back outside and stood at the rudder, steering away from the battlefield. From time to time, Fire Nation soldiers would take pot shots at her, firing arrows to try and pick her off, but soon enough they started to fade away. All up and down the river she saw civilians and surviving soldiers alike, trapped along the shore or trying to swim across. Many attempted to clamber up the sides of her boat, and when she could, Sito would pull them aboard, until at long last they were home free and the sun was setting, and her boat resembled a makeshift refugee camp. And, in a way, she supposed it now was.

As they pulled further and further up the river, Sito finally felt safe enough to tighten the sails and slow down. As she pulled and tied on the ropes, she watched the woman she had dragged from the water, who she had left curled by the mast. When she was finished, Sito crouched down next to the woman, her club clunking on the planks. She reached out tentatively, unsure of exactly what to do, before simply laying her hand on the womans cheek. She felt cold and clammy, but not so cold as to be dead. Satisfied that she was alive, Sito sighed, before rolling the woman over onto her back and looking her over as best she could, using what little knowledge Sito had to try and diagnose whatever may be wrong with the woman.

[Dentali]

Sito Of The Southern Tribe
Western Earth Kingdom
Near Taku

As they pulled further and further up the river, Sito finally felt safe enough to tighten the sails and slow down. As she pulled and tied on the ropes, she watched the woman she had dragged from the water, who she had left curled by the mast. When she was finished, Sito crouched down next to the woman, her club clunking on the planks. She reached out tentatively, unsure of exactly what to do, before simply laying her hand on the womans cheek. She felt cold and clammy, but not so cold as to be dead. Satisfied that she was alive, Sito sighed, before rolling the woman over onto her back and looking her over as best she could, using what little knowledge Sito had to try and diagnose whatever may be wrong with the woman.

Koyi Beifong

Beifong awoke with a start, coughing and spitting up a mix of water and blood. She whirled around on the floor of the ship confused and defensive and instinctively planting her back on the mast for protection. She tried to bend the earth to form a shield but quickly realized she was on a ship so instead reached for her sword, drawing it fiercely and looking at the waterbender in front of her. "What's going on? Who are you? Where am I?"

[United Human Planets]

Sito Of The Southern Tribe
Western Earth Kingdom
Near Taku

As they pulled further and further up the river, Sito finally felt safe enough to tighten the sails and slow down. As she pulled and tied on the ropes, she watched the woman she had dragged from the water, who she had left curled by the mast. When she was finished, Sito crouched down next to the woman, her club clunking on the planks. She reached out tentatively, unsure of exactly what to do, before simply laying her hand on the womans cheek. She felt cold and clammy, but not so cold as to be dead. Satisfied that she was alive, Sito sighed, before rolling the woman over onto her back and looking her over as best she could, using what little knowledge Sito had to try and diagnose whatever may be wrong with the woman.

Koyi Beifong

Beifong awoke with a start, coughing and spitting up a mix of water and blood. She whirled around on the floor of the ship confused and defensive and instinctively planting her back on the mast for protection. She tried to bend the earth to form a shield but quickly realized she was on a ship so instead reached for her sword, drawing it fiercely and looking at the waterbender in front of her. "What's going on? Who are you? Where am I?"

Sito jumped back, narrowly avoiding the spew of water that the woman coughed up. "Whoa," she said, crouching down and watching the woman with concern. She reached out to try and steady her, but quickly pulled her hand away when the woman flailed, as if trying to bend, and when she discovered there was no earth around drew a short sword on her. "Whoa!" said Sito again, this time raising her hands up to communicate she meant no harm. "Settle down there," she said, "I'm not gonna hurt you. You're on my ship, I pulled you out of the river."

[Dentali]

Koyi Beifong

Beifong awoke with a start, coughing and spitting up a mix of water and blood. She whirled around on the floor of the ship confused and defensive and instinctively planting her back on the mast for protection. She tried to bend the earth to form a shield but quickly realized she was on a ship so instead reached for her sword, drawing it fiercely and looking at the waterbender in front of her. "What's going on? Who are you? Where am I?"

Sito jumped back, narrowly avoiding the spew of water that the woman coughed up. "Whoa," she said, crouching down and watching the woman with concern. She reached out to try and steady her, but quickly pulled her hand away when the woman flailed, as if trying to bend, and when she discovered there was no earth around drew a short sword on her. "Whoa!" said Sito again, this time raising her hands up to communicate she meant no harm. "Settle down there," she said, "I'm not gonna hurt you. You're on my ship, I pulled you out of the river."

"The Bridge!!!" Koyi stood with a shock and looked all around until she saw the devastated bridge in the distance, though she did not smile she relaxed a bit and put her sword back in its sheath and turned to her savior studying him "A Waterbender? You picked the wrong time for a trip to the earth kingdom... thank you for pulling me out of the water... My name is Koyi."

[Aeritai]

As the flood of refugees and tourist enter the city of Ba Sing Se, Both Okesa and La Toh sticking together as they held hands trying not to get lost in the large crowd. Okesa couldn't believe he was inside Ba Sing Se and marveled at how large the city was and how culturally diverse it was as he and La Toh continued to walk through the city. It would take some time for Okesa to get use to living like the common folks, after all Okesa grew up in a family of wealth with his mother being a Firebending Teacher and his father being a Fire Sage who were seen as important people within the Fire Nation. But despite all of that power and wealth his father was still killed for speaking out against Fire Lord Sozin's war against the three nations and breaking the peace that Avatar Roku had when he was still alive. Okesa was soon snapped out of his thoughts as he heard a woman's voice, looking up he noticed a lady on a ostrich horse her violet purple eyes looking down at him and La Toh.

"A hotel? I'm not sure we just arrived in the city, so we don't know any hotels nearby." Okesa answered as he looked at the woman.

"Have you tried asking the residents of the city? I'm sure the people of Ba Sing Se would gladly point you in the right direction." La Toh said.

[American Pere Housh]

As the flood of refugees and tourist enter the city of Ba Sing Se, Both Okesa and La Toh sticking together as they held hands trying not to get lost in the large crowd. Okesa couldn't believe he was inside Ba Sing Se and marveled at how large the city was and how culturally diverse it was as he and La Toh continued to walk through the city. It would take some time for Okesa to get use to living like the common folks, after all Okesa grew up in a family of wealth with his mother being a Firebending Teacher and his father being a Fire Sage who were seen as important people within the Fire Nation. But despite all of that power and wealth his father was still killed for speaking out against Fire Lord Sozin's war against the three nations and breaking the peace that Avatar Roku had when he was still alive. Okesa was soon snapped out of his thoughts as he heard a woman's voice, looking up he noticed a lady on a ostrich horse her violet purple eyes looking down at him and La Toh.

"A hotel? I'm not sure we just arrived in the city, so we don't know any hotels nearby." Okesa answered as he looked at the woman.

"Have you tried asking the residents of the city? I'm sure the people of Ba Sing Se would gladly point you in the right direction." La Toh said.

Su smiled at the two individuals before speaking up, "I'm Su Wen and I hail from the Northern Water Tribe. You two wouldn't happen to be benders would you?" Su stepped off her ostrich horse and started leading it along, "If you want to join me, you can. Just letting you know that I hold no grudges against fire benders other than Fire Idiot Sozin."

[Parcia]

Kazuma Jinochi
A few miles from Shanyao


His little operation was going well. He had little extra supplies left, but had managed to set up a small field aid station among the partially destroyed ruins of a highway way station. He was largely working with what ever herbal remedies he could fashion out of the local flora and fauna and the few skilled healers among the refugees. He helped everyone as he could, though he focused on women, children, and those critically wounded before attending to those with lesser injuries.

Still was he on edge, as he knew full well the paranoia his operation might cause, he dreaded the sound of fire nation army troops marching down the stone road and, slipping both his swords in to his belt, went outside to greet them.

"What is this, what is the purpose of this gathering here?" Barked a certain soldier, one he recognized as a lieutenant. He had a single platoon of men, nearly 20 of them, behind him in marching formation. Clearing his throat, he spoke. "I'm an apothecary, a doctor, this is an aid station for civilians fleeing the carnage of your war." The Lieutenant did not like this and seemed to wish to intimidate Kazuma. "Right, we will see about that." He turned to his men and barked orders. "Search this hovel, look for and Earth Nation soldiers, deserters, or nobelmen."

The Good Doctor stepped in to a fighting stance and put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "I will not allow harm to come to civilians in my care." The Officer seemed to tense at this show of will and took a step back. "You'd draw on a fire Nation army officer?" Kazuma shoot his head, "I'd rather not, but will if you force my hand." There was silence, the officer and his two closest subordinates stood frozen as their platoon searched through the aid station, breaking glass and occasionally getting a curse or startled yelp from the people inside.

Soon enough they came out empty handed, which was interesting considering He figured they'd at least steal some medicines. "We found nothing, sir." Still, the officer wished to recover some face and barked another order. "Fine, then you shall see our commander so he may choose to do with you."

The men began to move around him and Kazuma tensed, before letting his hand fall from his sword and his shoulders relax. "So be it, but I keep my weapons." With that, they escorted him down the road and toward the near by camp.

[Das Australgouvernement]

The Road to Taku
Ulang Din

The sound of hooves stampeding the ground could be heard throughout the valley. There they were - a column of mounted cavalrymen, marching down the road to Taku. They were headed North, on their way to cross the river near Gaipan, and contest Fire Nation forces in the Western Earth Kingdom. Ulang held his camelephant's reins tight, trying to get an overview of where they were right now.

The horsemen rode at a slow pace, as they served as the vanguard to the recently-raised task force sent out to relieve Taku. Most of the mounted warriors had been trained thoroughly in the last few weeks - Masters-at-arms had taught them how to ride their ostrich horses, how to use their spears and lances in offensive manouvers. And yet, a ragged band of conscripts, volunteers and mercenaries had joined the procession, which made them stand out from the professional soldiers and their standardized equipment. One could find eel hounds, shirshus, giant rhinoceros beetles and a gemsbok bull amongst the ranks; The sudden and highly effective Fire Nation attacks had forced the Earth Kingdom Army to scramble together whatever they could find, and since the city of Omashu served as a gate to the strange and fascinating peoples of the Eastern Earth Kingdoms, many soldiers from all kinds of tribes and communities had gathered to do their part in the war.

The march north was a bleak affair, as the troops were commonly met with refugees, pouring in from the west. The Fire Nation had burnt down a great many villages, and since most of the Earth Kingdom's coasts were thoroughly under siege, these poor sods had no other option but to walk the long road to Omachu. Ulang had given away some of his food to the starving refugees earlier on his voyage, but had stopped soon after, knowing that his supplies were finite, and that the mercenaries had to provide food for themselves. It was heartbreaking to not be able to help these people, but Ulang could do little else than to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to witness on the frontlines.

He'd heard grim tales from those unfortunate enough to have been caught in the crossfire of war. The aforementioned refugees were quick to point out the cruelty of the Fire Nation, and yet he found the war stories told by veterans to be the most harrowing. Still, he could not help but feel that there must have been exaggerations in these stories, especially when they concerned the alleged heartlessness of fire benders and officers on the 'wrong side'. Ulang descended from a sandbender tribe, and though he had his fallouts with his community, he always felt as though the Earth Kingdom unfairly taxed the tribes and meddled in their affairs, and thus he was suspicious of whatever his government tried to tell him.

Indeed, the only reason why he'd signed up to fight for the Earth Kingdom was because of the gold he intended to make. A city as large as Omashu suffered under swarms of refugees, and it became more difficult for beggars and urchins to get by. The war forced him to move, and so he moved, one camelephant step at a time.

[Somerania]

The underbelly of Ba Sing Se

It's night in ba sing se, the dai li quitely patrol the streets, Yiren arrived at an alleyway where his contact would give him information about his next target, a man in all black soon arrived, gave him a letter and walked away, Yiren then stealthily went to a dark corner where no one would look for him and opened the letter, his next target was cho guoheng a 43 year old nonbender martial artist in an illegal fighting ring in the basement of an abandoned warehouse in the lower ring, the fighting ring is only open during fridays.

Yiren's job was to beat him up and get all his money, the hit was ordered by a lower ring gang leader who lost a large chunk of his money while betting on Cho, Yiren's reward for this job was 300 silver pieces so he was reluctant to do the job.

Yiren comes up to a large thug on the door of the warehouse, the thug says "hey! No entries unless you can give me 20 silver pieces!" Yiren gives the the thug his 20 silver pieces and the thug opens the door to him and pushes him in, Yiren sees four guards on the floor of the warehouse and four on the top looking at him, one of the guard gestures at another then then the guard who was gestured at holds a carpet on the ground and moved it away revealing a large trap door which another guard comes an helps him open it Yiren then enters the trap door and sees at least 50 people watching the fight cheering then two guards come up to him and say "are you here to fight or watch, if your gonna watch then you need to bet and if your here to fight give us your name or nickname and wait for your turn" Yiren then says "I am here to fight you may call me "the newcomer"

Yiren sits down in an empty seat and watches fight after fight until it is his turn, the announcer goes to the stage and says we have a new fighter by the name of the newcomer! Who will fight a fighter by the name of pohuai, a well built man enters the octagon shaped arena and two guards carrying hats enter the seats one holding all the bets on Yiren the other on pohuai, most of the bets are on pohuai, after everyone places their bets the announcer loudly says "fight!" And pohuai suddenly runs up to Yiren and does a high kick targeting his head but Yiren ducks and kicks pohuai's leg then pohuai loses his footing and drops to the ground but he jumps up saying "damn you!" Then tries to pun Yiren but he grabs pohuai's arm turns to his back and kicks his back so hard that pohuai's arm is dislocated, pohuai drops to the ground writhing in pain, guards come and take pohuai away, the crowd erupts in cheers, 25% of pohuai bets and his bets go to him, the rest are given to the people who betted on him.

His next contender was his target, Cho guoheng, a large 6.4 feet tall ripped man, Yiren wasn't told that his target was a 6.4 feet tall muscly man, all the bets were on Cho guoheng this time, Yiren thought how could someone beat this man? Then the announcer again loudly said "fight!" And Cho came charging at him but Yiren slid through his legs jumped up and kicked his head hard then reeled back, Cho looked back at Yiren acting like he felt nothing, Yiren was kind of scared but he kept on fighting, after 20 minutes of light attacks Cho was very tired and Yiren was close to victory, Cho then charged at Yiren with all his energy but Yiren again slid down behind him and kicked Cho so hard in the nuts that the man collapsed, the crowd went wild! Everybody wanting refunds but the guards shut them down, a huge chunk of thr money went to Yiren, it was about 400 silver pieces.

The fight was over for that day when Yiren went outside he followed Cho for a bit and confronted him about the money and Cho said "don't come near me! Please here take this!!!" Cho gave him a coin pouch containing 200 silver pieces and the baby leader lost 300 pieces so with some of the coins he earned he told them they Cho had paid back the debt not revealing Cho only gave him 200 silver pieces, Yiren got his reward later in Sunday night in that alleyway inside an envelope along with a letter saying that there are some rumors circling around that a waterbender had arrived in the city, Yiren now regularly visits the fighting ring for easy money.

[Aeritai]

"It is good to meet you Su Wen, I am La Toh and this is my boyfriend Okesa." La Toh said as she introduced herself and Okesa.

"It is good to meet you Ms. Wen, however both me and my girlfriend aren't benders. We are just simple non-benders trying to start a new life in Ba Sing Se to escape the war." Okesa lied as he smiled.

Okesa wondered what a Waterbender was doing here in the Earth Kingdom and thought the Water Tribes were going to isolate themselves from the war. It was also strange how Su Wen brought up not hating Firebenders and that she only hated Fire Lord Sozin. Does she know who I am? Okesa thought as he stood by La Toh still holding her hand as they wait for a response from the Waterbender.

[American Pere Housh]

"It is good to meet you Su Wen, I am La Toh and this is my boyfriend Okesa." La Toh said as she introduced herself and Okesa.

"It is good to meet you Ms. Wen, however both me and my girlfriend aren't benders. We are just simple non-benders trying to start a new life in Ba Sing Se to escape the war." Okesa lied as he smiled.

Okesa wondered what a Waterbender was doing here in the Earth Kingdom and thought the Water Tribes were going to isolate themselves from the war. It was also strange how Su Wen brought up not hating Firebenders and that she only hated Fire Lord Sozin. Does she know who I am? Okesa thought as he stood by La Toh still holding her hand as they wait for a response from the Waterbender.

She looked at Okesa with a thoughtful look,Hmmm Okesa, Okesa where have I heard that name before? Su thought. She looked at the two with a smile on her face, "Well nothing wrong with being non benders. Okesa, I know I heard your name from somewhere, maybe my parents or uncle. If you're wondering why I'm so far from my home then I'll tell you that I'm traveling across the Earth Kingdom to see the sights and maybe show some arrogant fire benders that water bending is just as good as fire bending. So tell me Okesa, who are you really? I promise I won't judge you for anything."