Sasami, in a blue summer friendly watertribe outfit, sat on the edge of the water, near a cliff. She was just out of sight from and ships for now. She enjoyed the feel of the water on her feet and smiled. She looked up and slightly behind her and spotted Kyo in his newly aquired green outfit(similar to haru's). They had met some months ago now, but still remained in the earth kingdom. Sasami stood and wrapped her arms around his waist. He tensed at first still not used to the contact but then softened and hugged her back. She looked up into his eyes. They fascinated her. One was a dark blue the seemd to see all of her. The other was a light blue almost white. It seemed to see all of her soul. She looked away blushing.

"Kyo, How are we going to pass the waters? They're are to many of the fire nations ships here." she turned and looked at the horizon.

"I don't know yet, kitten." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close as they watched another navy ship pass by.

Sasami shuttered and looked at the ground. Her emotional wounds still to fresh to look at the ship. Her tribe had been destroyed by those types and she missed them so much.

"If only the avatar hadn't shown up." she whispered quitely.

Kyo hugged her tighter. She knew she should blame the avatar but sometimes she couldn't help it. Though the fire nation would most likely have attack anyway and he did save most of the northern tribe.

"We should head back into the forest." Kyo nudged her out of her revire.

She nodded and took his hand as the head back to their so called camp site.

((first of that group to post))

Well that’s settled, Shio thought as he calmed down for there was no need to interfere. But still they all needed to get the hell off of their butts and get the ships moving for as he thought before; the longer they waited the higher the chances were that Jae was dead. That was not a fate that a man as nice as Jae should face. Especially when Jae took the place for another.

“Um, shouldn’t we go already?” Shio asked in desperation. Just once he wished that someone would listen to him, just once.

"I agree," came the voice of Goen, the adopted earthbender, but of course it was really his brother Taed possessing him. "The sooner we rescue your captain, the sooner I can try to figure out why I'm being prevented from getting back to my body." The body in question threatened to roll off the nearby table and Goen moved a hand to steady it.

I didn't realize you got so seasick, either, Taed thought in his brother's mind.

It probably has to do with the storm from when I was a baby, Goen mentally shrugged.

Toru finished his tea and decided he couldn't wait any longer. He ran over to Deri's door and knocked loudly 3 times.The cat was still watching him. "You know what you're actually pretty cute." He smiled and bent down to pet the cat. The fur was soft and felt good after handling hot tea.

Deri sprang to life and replied sleepily, "Come in." She stood up and stretched out her arms. Where did Tai go? Deri looked around her room, with no sign of him. She got on her hands and knees and crawled around her room whispering loudly, "Tai? Here little kitten. Come on, Tai. Where are you?" Deri stood up and walked over to a worried expression and opened the door to see Toru. She was facing him but still searching her room with her eyes hoping not for Tai to claw anyone.

Keilani still wept. Heat emanated form her body, threatening to cook Joufuma. Braving the heat, the grey-clad earthbender reached out to the firebender in black, laying a hand on her shoulder. She toned down the heat, leaning into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her. All of a sudden, he was struck by how much she resembled Mei. Wow. That's wierd.
Keilani heard his thought and responded, What's wierd?
How much you resemble my dead fiancee, not to mention the fact that you just read my mind.

Toru bent down and picked up the cat. He handed him to Deri and he said "Today is the day we leave! About what time can we go?" He smiled politely and looked at the window. Judging by the sun it was around 10 o clock.

Deri smiled as she held Tai. She set him on the ground, he scrambled over to the bed and curled up into a ball and fell asleep at an instant. Deri replied grabbing his wrist and gently pulling him towards the steps up to the control room then letting go. "We'll go now! Okay, I'll be down here putting coal into the burner. I need you to control the ship. Back it into the deep water and call me down from the intercom when we are back enough. 'Kay?"

"Sure!" Now I only need to know how to back it out. Terrific! Toru looked at the dials and switches. He pressed the ignition button and put it into reverse. Time to steer! He turned the wheel to the right hoping that they'd go left but instead the boat went right! A wave of panic struck him.Don't hit the shore! He quickly turned the wheel to the left twice as much as he turned it right. He sighed and waited until they were deep enough.

Deri was tossed from side to side going down into the dark boiler room. A surge of heat smacked her face. She coughed and waved her hand in front of her face like a fan and searched the large room for coal. It was right next to what seemed like a giant stove in an gigantic pile. Deri gave a brief nod to herself and stomped the ground. A small pile of black coal lifted from the heap. She punched the air and the coal went into the stove. Deri ran into the middle of the pile, her feet collecting charcole. She bent all of the coal into a long trail and made it swirl around her, gathering more dust on her. She shot it into the fire with a smile. Another cough realesed out of her lips along with a muffled reply in her thoughts, 'I need to get out of this fire pit. No more coal anyway.' Deri ran back to the steps and raced up, she didn't stop until she was at the closed door of the control room. Deri stopped and panted then slowly walked into the control room still covered in soot and ash. "Nice driving. The first part was a little off but, the rest was good!" She smiled and brushed herself off.

Toru was about to push the intercom until Deri appeared through the door. He gave a weak smile and backed away from the wheel. "If only your sister gave you a water tribe ship. Do you think, somehow I could help us steer by waterbending? I know this sounds weird but it sounds fun."

Deri gave a frown then corrected, "Cousin." She smiled and tucked her brown hair behind her ears and thought about steering with bending. Deri said once she found a pretty crazy idea, "You could use water whip to direct it. It would be kinda difficult but good to use during a fight." The shore was disappearing slowly but they were still off to the Norther Air Temples. A few days of sailing and they would be there.

Toru thought about the suggestion. "I meant like, moving waves out of the way or, calming the sea or something. Im not sure. Forget I said anything." He glanced down the hallway. "Should I wake Ren?" He gave an uneasy smile. So he wasn't thrilled with me coming along. It doesn't matter! I should give him a second chance. He looked tired.

Deri sighed and said playfully, "First of all, now I can't forget about it!" She smiled and continued,"And second, I think we should let him sleep. He looked pretty tired last night." Deri was now thinking about the Fire Nation and where Mihara and Kia were. The shore was now far out, 'I shouldn't worry. My life is all planned out now.' A stab of fear and sadness peirced her heart. She never really had anything planned out besides, getting away from the Fire Nation, stealing a ship, and getting to the Northern Air Temple.

(Hmmm, Judging by the posts of this thread, I think no one would be upset by my Timeshifting us ahead into preaction mode. So, with all the usual Godmoding warnings, here we go. TIMESHIFT!)

A few hours latter, the two ships sailed more or less side by side. The Black Moon's sails bulged, guided by Captain' Kieda, the nameless Ironclad (?) steaming along under the stern watch of Kraj. Members of both groups watched the horizon from various posts for their collective target, the midday sun beaming down from a cloud-speckled sky. Both groups were primed for action, this 'rescue mission' quite hard on everyone's mind.

(Next person to post from our group, spot the foe, and we'll be off eh?)

Deri heard an echo of footsteps around the ship. "Creepy." she whispered under her breath. Deri just assumed it was from lack of sleep. "Do you want some breakfast, Toru?" She smiled at him then looked out of the window at the sky.