"Ahh so you do have more than one emotion. I was beginning to wonder about you." He laughed and looked at her arms, working to row the boat. She was moving it much faster than he was and that was cool. That meant they could get to where they were going faster. He leaned his arm over the side of the boat and his hand glided through the water as the boat moved.

Xi didn't have much to say now. He didn't want to pry into her past. So he figured he could volunteer his, just to keep the dying conversation going. "I bet my mother would like this." He looked up and spotted shapes in the clouds. "But then again, I wouldn't know. She died before I got the opportunity to know her." He sat up and flicked the water from his fingers. "And dad? I think you know how he died..."

Zhuan scoffed at Xi's emotion remark, continuing to row with deep concentration. They were at the halfway mark, which gave her more of an incentive to row a bit more faster.

"Us blood thirsty earthbenders, right?" she said sarcastically with a bitter tone. At least you knew a parent she thought jealously, then continued focusing on rowing once more.

Saami had been silent for a long time. What had she and Luna been talking about? Saami couldn't remember. She rested her elbows on the table and pushed her empty plate to the side. "So...Luna..." she began rather slowly.

Conversation was never easy for Saami, because of the simple fact that she had spent so much time alone and all her energy was focused on finding Taru. She had heard a curious rumor from a pair sitting across from them that a certain drunk captain and a young waterbender had been seen wandering around Ba Sing Se. Perhaps that was Taru. Of course she had left Ba Sing Se without seeing Taru. But she figured it couldn't hurt to go back and check, right?

"Luna...do you think we could go to Ba Sing Se from here?" she asked, looking up from the pattern in the wood at her friend.

Saami laughed lightly at Luna's question. What was Ba Sing Se? "Well...Ba Sing Se...is a big city surrounded by an even bigger wall. That's where a lot of refugees end up when they haven't a place to go. As far as I know, Ba Sing Se is still unaffected by the war." She said with a nod of her head.

Why was Taru in Ba Sing Se? If that waterbender was him. She followed any lead she came across. And it usually ended up wasting her time, but it was fun seeing the places she had seen and learning to waterbend and avoiding the Fire Nation. She had learned so much and she wanted to show her brother.

She clasped her hands together and her gaze returned to the table. "I wish I could just...show him everything I've learned. I'm sure he would be...pleased." She said with a faint smile, despite the fact that her eyes burned with tears.

Saami sighed and smiled at Luna as she felt her hand rest on top of hers. It was nice having a friend to share with. She usually had to deal with missing Taru on her own. And that wasn't something she did very well. Luna was a lot more help than she realized. Saami knew she was right. Taru would be proud of her if he could see. Oh if only she could find him!

Her eyes gazed at Luna as she explained about her brother. At least he was honorable. Saami's brother was nothing more than an arrogant traitor. But Saami loved him anyway. She simply couldn't help it.

Saami smiled at Luna's question, comparing the walls of Ba Sing Se to the walls of the Northern Water Tribe. "I think Ba Sing Se's walls are bigger. The city itself is divided into rings. There is a lower ring, a middle ring, and a upper ring. The rumors put Taru in the middle ring where the university is. We'll start there and if you want, we can look around the city as well."

Taru changed? Saami shook her head. "I doubt it. Taru is horribly arrogant. He wouldn't change for anything...or anyone..." she said with a nod of her head. "Your brother...he was honorable, yes? You must've been very proud of him..."

Saami was tired of talking about these depressing things. When she found Taru, she would straighten everything out. Until then she would just enjoy her time with her friend, Luna.

She stood when Luna stood and she began walking toward the exit. "Let's go. Ba Sing Se is calling..." she said with a laugh. "When we stop for the night, I'd like to practice my bending if you don't mind..." she said with her hand on the door.

((I call this: Why the Kyoshi warriors shouldn't leave! If they hadn't gone to the ferry, the village would have survived, but maybe these two will wipe it out. What fun! *evilgrin*))

Not a single soul was in sight other than the fugitive on the obviously bustling pier. Kasai smiled as he imagined what had happened to them, with the added help of the blood stains in the surrounding water. Such romantic fancies were not important though, so he followed the wanted girl into the town of Kyoshi.

A young man saw Kasai from beyond two heavy barrels, and dropped them immediately. Unfortunately for him, Kasai had spent a day at sea and needed to kill somneone, so the large armor clad personage ran forward and swung his massive sword in an arc, slicing through bone, sinew, and flesh. The intoxicating scent and sound of boiling blood filled the air as his now red-hot sword hovered in the air, held in place by two massive arms.

He drank in the smell as a dying man drank in water, and his eyes began to glaze darker brown and redder in the whites. "Two mass murders in one day," he said, "You'd think an island would have some protecton other than a sea serpent."

((*Wince* You enjoy this too much, Deri...))

A woman came screaming out of the shop, yelling something about love and pain. Kasai smiled. "Don't worry, you won't feel the pain long." Then, with another splash of warm blood, she died.

Two fishermen stood nearby, frozen with fear. One of them stammered out something that was meant to turn away wrath. "N-now p-p-please, we d-don't want n-no t-trouble..." Kasai smiled at this. "No, you don't. But that doesn't mean you won't get it. With one hissing swipe, the two toppled to the ground.

The town square was now empty, except for one girl by the tavern. The wanted one, Itokia. "Greetings fellow blood-seeker!" he called, knowing that she would recognize him from his exalted wanted posters. They had reached almost as much fame as the Blue Spirit. Personally, Kasai thought "The Fire Butcher" was more dangerous than a two-bladed demon from the spirit world.

(Well this is my only character that exposes my dark side!)

Itokia slowly turned around when someone called her a fellow blood-seeker. There a man stood, she noticed him all to well. "Well, well, well. If it isn't the famous Fire butcher I've read so much about." She walked p to him with her eyes saying, 'I wont attack unless you do, but that is pointless for two murderers to kill each other, no?' Finally she was up to him, though her eyes were looking at the people along the island dead already. A smirk came to her face as she told him, "Nice work. No mercy, no hesitation by the looks of it all. I can respect that."