OOC: ACK! Sorry, Kai. I fail at life.

It had been a couple months, Aunt Wu reflected thoughtfully. After the Avatar, no visitors to her village had rocked the workings of Makapu Village like the combined forces of the island firebender, the Hunters, the stray earthbender, and the pregnant waterbender. Now half of them were gone. The blue-fire bender, Taed, had returned to his island to fight a hopeless battle; the last Aunt Wu had seen his Hunter friends, they had been accompanying him to a seaport. Meanwhile Taed's "wife"... or more likely fiancee... Etsuko was close to going into labor. She and Goen, the earthbender, had taken up residence in Aunt Wu's fortunetelling house, at her suggestion.

That did not stop the fortunetelling from going on. Over the last few months Wu had trained Goen and her little assistant Meng in the art of caring for childbearers. Right now Meng was watching Etsuko and keeping her comfortable, and Goen was at Meng's old station in the kitchen and waiting room, supplying Aunt Wu's customers with fresh bean curd and other food while their readings were pending.

But at the moment the waiting room was empty and Goen was relaxing against the wall. The morning had been very hectic. "Goen, has anyone else arrived yet?" she called from the firepit room.

Goen opened one eye toward the closed door. "None yet. Tell me what you think of my spiel, Aunt Wu," he called back, and pushed himself off of the floor as if to go answer the door. He reached out and tapped the curious handle that had originally caught his attention all those months ago, pushing the door to the side. "Come in, come in!" he said loudly in his best 'showman' voice. "Fortune smiles upon you this day for you have found the home of Aunt Wu. Would you like your fortune read today?"

From the fireside, Aunt Wu rolled her eyes, shook her head and smiled.

From down the hall, Meng just rolled her eyes. Having abandoned all thoughts that Goen might be romantically attracted to her, the simple local girl thought of him like an older brother — a slightly annoying one.

Etsuko put a restraining hand on Meng's wrist even though Meng had made no motion to go take over for Goen. "Don't chastise him yet, Meng," the waterbender smiled weakly. "I like having you around. I can't talk to a lot of people like I talk to you. Girl-to-girl talk." She breathed again and took a look at her swelling belly. Any day now her water would break... oh spirits, what horrors then. She hoped Aunt Wu would take the time to excuse herself from her customers and actually help her then. Meng and Goen had been trained well and all, but she would rather have someone more experienced getting her through it.

Meng beamed. Like Aunt Wu, Etsuko seemed to really enjoy her company. It was nice. "Oh, I wasn't going to do anything. Goen can make a fool of himself all day for all I care." She stood up anyway and explained, "I am a little hungry though. I'm going to grab some curd from the kitchen. Do you want some more water?"

Etsuko nodded. "Thank you very much, Meng." Meng curtsied and fled the room. Once more Etsu's thoughts turned to Taed. Oh, Taed... somehow I need you to survive... and come back to me. How can I raise this baby by myself?

((Continued from Through the Earth Kingdom))

Haru's jade eyes drifted over to Hanabi as they walked. The last words she said were ones he had never expected to escape her lips, and it surprised him. In the midst of all her talk about how much she liked struggle and to fight, he had never heard her mention any sort of moral stance on the killing of one's opponent. Now that she had, his respect for the hotheaded girl had increased that much more.

He kept quiet; mostly because he wanted to do more listening than talking. He'd had his say, and now he was interested in hearing his traveling companions' responses. What they said might reveal something about them, but as he'd learned in the past, things people did were more indicative of the kind of people they were. He'd started to get a general idea of who Hanabi was, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't telling him everything; however, he figured that it wasn't something that needed revealing before its time. After all, everything came to light eventually, like his revelation that he was an Earthbender back when they'd first met.

"You know, I don't think that struggle..." he said finally, but his words were cut short as he realized that the volcano that had been so far off in the distance before was now towering over them.

They had arrived.

His eyes traveled over his surroundings as he studied the entrance to the village. Although it was different than his village, it still felt as homey. He smiled as he walked into town, casually greeted by passersby.

"Well, we're here!" he said, turning to his companions with a smile. It felt good to have arrived, as it seemed they had been traveling for quite some time (and they probably had been). Now, they had two weeks to relax and stay somewhere for more than a night, which is something that he was starting to miss. You could only travel for so long without getting homesick and, in this case, home was somewhere you didn't set up camp and move the next day.

Satake listened thoughtfully as Hanabi responded to his question. he was intrigued by her abrasive attitude. it appeared as if all she lived for was to fight, to struggle. He wasn't sure whether to categorize her as hostile or just a warrior. her attitude was common among veteran soldiers, hardly seen among those so young, even he wasn't nearly as willing to fight. Satake himself believed violence was only to be used where diplomacy fails and of course killing was an extreme last resort. he made a mental note to keep on her good side, she did not seem to be the type of person who would take kindly to double crossing, or any type of crossing for that matter.

Satake began to consider how he truly felt about life being a struggle. Sure there were many moments in life that tested a person, physically, mentally , and spiritually. How a person came out of those circumstances was the goal. Satake grinned as he thought, life wasn't a struggle to him. it was a game. Sure there were plenty of obstacles to go through but in the end there were a great many rewards. He believe \d his view on life was due greatly to his optimism and he loved it.

As they spoke they got ever closer to the great volcano and before he knew it they were in the village, He took a deep breath and thought he could practically smell the ash on the wind. He looked determinedly at the volcano, it wa shere that he would better himself, it was here that he would come one step closer to understanding. One step closer to his life's goal. Haru and Hanabi seemed happy to be there as well.

"I suppose our first order of business will be finding somewhere to rest then," Satake asked. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept in a bed, he was joyfully shuddering anticipation of a good night's sleep. He stopped as a sudden though crossed his mind. "Pardon my ignorance, but won't it cost a little something to stay somewhere?" His hopes of a nice room and plush bed were quickly replaced with foreboding thoughts of a pile of itchy hay inside a dilapidated barn.

Hanabi looked over at the seedy, dingy, Hick Town, that was the Village under Mt. Makapu and her left hand went to the bridge of her nose her slightly squeezing the bridge of her nose as if she had a frontal lobe headache at being forced to be around such a superstition ridden Lice-Tick Mound.

She ignored the 'exuberent' remarks of Haru and Satake at ariving, hearing Haru begin to comment she began to get a little curious about what he was going to say, she noted to herself silently that she would have to find out what he was going to say before cutting off.

Hearing Satake speak about how life was a game she smiled to herself, she had never thought of it in 'those exact words' but it made a sort of sense to her where he was coming from, "You still must struggle to survive the game though, and should you loose to baddly you suddenly are playing Fire Outcast Hotcan."

Fire Outcast Hotcan was a game popular in some seedier less orderly Fire Nation prisons where prisoners would take a can of mild fuel and each take turns sticking there finger down the fuel can hole and shooting fire in, each person would make a single one second shot of fire until the unlucky one had the can blow up taking his arm, a part of his side and possibly his life. The Fuel Cans generally had small pouring nozzles perfect size for a finger to act as a seal, and when enough heat built in the can, the combined need for energy releasal as well as the superheating of the fuel would eventually breach the seals of the can. It was banned from the Fire Nation long ago, but her uncle played the game a lot, and she herself had played a round or two in her time.

Hanabi reached in her belt, "As a warrior, it is my duty to know how to survive, if I am dependent on civilization to live then I am sworn to the person who would feed me." She shuffled around clasping a bag in her belt pouch, "So my Fathers both taught me how to hunt and gather everything from what I have hunted, so that no part of my prey would be dishonored." She pulled out a rather full looking pouch of coins, "Haru has been enjoying some Jerky from my last hunt, but notice I was carrying around no bones or hides. Society is not to be depended upon, but a skilled outdoors person can make by well enough to afford some comforts." She pulled out Four Gold Coins, handing three to Haru and one to Satake, "Haru, stock up on you will need to survive an extended trek throught the wilds, Satake, that coin I handed you should be enough to fully supply yourself as well as afford you a comfortable room to sleep should you get tired."

Hanabi turned her head, "I'll come with you two into town, but I have everything I need, when I tire I'll climb the Volcano and rest up on it's peak." she said to them both.

Hanabi was a skilled hunter and survivalist, part of her singleminded training in Warriorhood and Independence by her Uncle, She wouldn't need to hunt tell she ran out of coins, and she wagered that even with these two she'd have enough money to last herself a good week or two before needing to hunt again.

The coins Hanabi held out met Haru's closed hand as he shook his head.

"I have more than enough gold from the Rumble to last me for a good while. Apparently, even third place in a competition merited a hefty amount of gold as a reqard, and if he stuck to buying the essentials, he would still have a fair amount by the time they left their next destination.

"Besides, there's a forest on the other side of the volcano from the village where I can hunt if I don't feel like buying any food. I think my skills could use a little brushing up," he added with a smile. He paused to look around, enchanted by the charm of the village. He sensed a shift in Hanabi's demeanor, but it wasn't strong enough for him to pinpoint exactly where it had shifted to. Perhaps he'd take a break from perusing the town to visit her up on the volcano. After all, it would be interesting to see what she would be doing on the mountain, as nobody generally went up there.

"Well, I'm going to look around the village. Let's meet up here after sunset so we can have dinner or something. Until then," he said, bowing slightly to each of them but bowing a little deeper to Hanabi. After all, she had earned his respect, as he hoped he'd earned hers. With that said, he turned and made his way into town.

A few people smiled and greeted him, and he did the same. People in small towns like this were always friendlier; he hated to think of how people in Ba Sing Se were. So many people packed into one space would only breed dissent, especially since he heard tales of people going missing. Those were mostly told by older boys in his village to scare the younger children, and Haru had been one of the ones to have the misfortune of being told the story. He always shook it off as a tall tale, but something in the back of his head was telling him that it was more than just a tale. He'd have to make it a point at some time before the war was over to visit the walled city, but that time wouldn't be now. He had to focus on his mission and why he was here.

Hanabi seemed to agree with Satake's sentiments on life being a game. Let alone she believed it to be more of a dangerous game. Satake himself believed it was full of challenges and the rules were fairly easy to see once you opened your eyes. Satake had always been one to think in strange ways, in his opinion it was the only way to make it through life. When all else fails do what's never been done before. When Hanabi mentioned the fire bender game Fire Outcast Hotcan he got curious. He knew very little of it other than it was illegal and played fire benders. He began to wonder if Hanabi was a fire bender but then put the thoughts out of his head. Any fire bender in the earth kingdom would be captured before they could let out a stray spark. At most Hanabi was probably from the fire kingdom but Satake felt it wouldn't be proper to ask such questions until he got to know his companions better.

Hanabi went on to talk about being self sufficient. Satake began to think about all the time he had been on his own, he had gradually learned over time how to fend for himself but he believed it was important to have others help as well. There will always be those better than others at their trade, being indebted to someone was not always a bad thing.
"Perhaps being dependent on civilization isn't always a bad thing," satake mused. "Civilization was created for the purpose of bring ing peopel together so they could survive and grow with a combined strength. it's always good to be self sufficient but to shun progress just seems...foolish." Satake felt like a hypocrite saying such things. He had been purposley avoiding others for so long, it was about time that he finally started making friends.

When Hanabi began handing out coins Haru refused and Satake followed suit.
"I cannot accept your money, I haven't earned it," Satake told Hanabi. Growing up Satake's father and his Uncle Kero had always stressed the importance of hard work and earning what you had. Accepting handout's and charity's was equatable to cheating or stealing, if you have not earned something you shall not take it. Another aspect was Satake's own pride, he always had a problem with accepting others help. It made him feel inferior, weak. "I'd be willing to work for money but I can't accept without having earned it. I will be content finding someplace else to sleep," Satake muttered. His thoughts of a soft bed were dashed but there was nothing wrong with sleeping out in a field...unless it rained.

Haru told them that he was going to go explore the village and that they were to meet up in the same spot to get dinner or something. Satake nodded and waved as Haru walked towards town. Satake was anxious to head up to volcano but he knew there was a time and place for everything. He then turned to Hanabi and gave her a nervous smile. he had to admit that without Haru there he was a little nervous around her.
"Well, I guess I'll be heading into town as well then." he bowed respectfully as Haru had done then began walking, whistling a jaunty tune as he did so. He decided that he would get familiar with the town, if they were going to spending some time here it would be nice to at least know the layout.

Hanabi looked at Satake and pondered a moment at his words, "Never depend on Civilization, my skills set me outside of dependence, but still allows me to contribute and be a part of it should I so desire without binding me to it or the shortcomings it may have." Hanabi really didn't understand why he didn't take the Coin, it was just money and she could get it easy. Ohh well, maybe he was wierd she mused.

"Just take the coins, there just lumps of metal to me and you might get a comfortable room and a good nights sleep, Figure it this way; Help yourself to help me help you train, if your uncomfortable and stiff from dungheap sleeping araingements you're going to be a bore too help train, and train you will if you expect to keep up with me and Haru." She scratched her chin thinking that Coins where Barter at it's more advanced level, the 'right' to trade so to speak, "If you wanna pay me back for it then just don't be boring, I hate boring." In her mind where a few ways, one was sparing, another was him being an interesting student.

Hanabi had a structure in which she did things, she was not as Chaotic to have no order in her existance, a slow methodology which had served her all of her life, ingrained from her father she smiled deciding she needed to make a few monotary buys as well.

"I'll be heading up to the Volcano for a bit after I stock up on training supplies, if you need me, come and get me, either of you. When you are ready to train, meet me, I would like to train you two at Sunset, continue our flag lessons Haru, see where you mesure, Satake." she said to them, clenching her fists tightly at her side then opening them and reclenching them her Knuckles making some small cracking noises.

Hanabi had few fears, one most minor one was that Haru was going to get the Chipper idea to drag her to see Aunt Wu, she banished the thought, she figured Aunt Wu probably wasn't that bad, I mean if she didn't want to know, Aunt Wu probably wouldn't tell her, hell she knew she herself would be releaved to find a person who could rely upon themself instead of wanting there future layed out before them.

Hanabi turned away, "If either of you would like to Train, I will aid you with such as well." Hanabi started to walk towards the town herself, she would cut through the town to the Volcano and get what she needed.

As Haru walked around the market, merchants in several stands tried to get him to buy things; mostly what he didn't need. He did buy some fruit that he planned to eat later, but right now, he was looking for something of interest. The town seemed pretty ordinary, aside from the large rock formations that loomed over the town on one side. He'd heard tales of how the Avatar had saved the town from being destroyed by a volcanic eruption, and he chuckled at the thought. From the little time he'd spent with the Avatar, he'd seemed like the kind of creative person to come up with an idea like that. Perhaps he'd go over to that side of town later and check it out.

Before he could realize what he was doing, he'd approached another merchant.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where Aunt Wu is?" he asked, and the merchant chuckled.

"Ah, hoping to find your true love, young man? She's over there," he said, pointing to an ornate door across the town square. Haru opened his mouth to object, but didn't say anything; rather, he thanked the merchant and made his way over to the door.

When he got there, he knocked and waited for someone to answer. His mind kept drifting back to the merchant's comment. Maybe he wasn't trying to find his true love, but he was trying to get an idea of his destiny, even if it was just for fun. Even now, he was creating his own destiny, but he needed to kick back once in a while and goof off; after all, what kind of person would he be if he took everything seriously? Well...he'd be like Hanabi.

He chuckled at the thought and stood in front of the door.

From their respective corners of the building, Aunt Wu, Meng, Etsuko, and Goen all looked up in surprise at the sound of someone knocking on the door.

Goen, of course, was in place right away, and in a rare moment of insight decided to be a little less carnival-freak than his earlier rehearsal had made him sound. Politely, he opened the door — noting again in the back of his mind that he was doing Meng's job, and deciding it was all right since Meng was watching Etsuko still — and said, "Can I help you?" Immediately he felt foolish and added, "Well, no, crap, you're here to see Aunt Wu, I bet. Come in, please," as he opened the door wider and allowed the stranger passage inside.

Aunt Wu had, at the sound of Goen opening the door, grabbed a poker and begun stirring the ashes of the fire before her. Glancing around, she noting with slight dismay that her stack of tarot cards had toppled over and that one could be considered unhealthily close to the embers. She reached out and grabbed it, glancing at it. It was the Ace of the Spring Suit, "Paurris the Earth Spirit". I know an omen when I see one, the thought ran very consciously through her mind. A powerful young earthbender. She stood up from her spot, rubbing her aching and aging hip for a moment, and moved to open the frosted sliding door between the waiting room and her fireside compartment.

Meng, in the kitchen, scowled for just a split second at the sound of Goen answering the door, before she decided it was all right. She was helping Etsuko, and that was more important. Thinking of Etsuko reminded her that she needed to get a glass of water and bring it to the pregnant waterbender. She pulled the lever to the water basin only slightly, allowing a trickle of liquid to fill up a small mug. Then she took her bowl of curd, and the water, and crossed the hall back into Etsu's current abode.

Etsuko glanced up as Meng re-entered the room and smiled as the little girl offered her the cup. "Thank you again, Meng," she managed weakly, taking a sip from the cup before setting it down on the floor and closing her eyes to rest.

Haru was surprised to see a young boy answering the door and making the mistake of asking him if he could be helped. He raised an eyebrow, but bowed to the boy as he entered, smelling the heavy aroma of a fire spiced with incense. It was almost overwhelming, but he adjusted quickly and looked around. It seemed homey, albeit much warmer than his mother ever kept the house, but he didn't mind so much. After all, it created a dream-like atmosphere, almost bringing the Spirit World alive inside the building. He could feel the earth's vibrations beneath his feet, but they seemed...more distant, somehow.

It was then that Aunt Wu opened the door to the next room. For an old lady, she emanated a vibration that made every cell in his body feel like he'd been struck by lightning. He didn't know that someone like her would radiate something that demanded reverence for the ancient art she practiced, and he was more than happy to comply. He bowed his head deeply as he entered, realizing that he was in the presence of a woman who'd helped shaped the destiny of almost every person who had set foot inside the village.

He smiled slightly when he realized that Hanabi would probably wretch if he told her how he was feeling right then, but that was only because she didn't believe in all of this. He didn't pity her or think she was missing something from her life, but he did wonder what would happen if she took a leap of faith every now and then.

He banished those thoughts as he stepped inside, looking around and waiting for Aunt Wu to give him instructions.

Satake listened to Hanabi's logic and graciously accepted the coin, he wanted be as prepared as possible to train, he was going to show everyone just how much of a fighter he was. Satake walked into the town with a quirk in his step and a smile on his face. he had grown up in a small village like this on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se. Needless to say he felt right at home there. It was the time of village where everyone was nice and everyone knew each other. He pondered that if he looked hard enough he could find a family...just like his own. Homesickness and sadness came over him as these thoughts crossed his mind.

As he walked along he saw a little boy holding his mother and father's hand. They all looked so happy, so complete. Everywhere he looked there was a happy family wandering about. He strolled down the street, his smile having turned to a saddened frown. It was then he saw a boy, possibly no older than ten sitting all alone in an alley. He looked dirty, unkempt, and very hungry. He reminded Satake so much of himself. Those first couple months away from home had been brutal, he had been hungry almost all the time and he always look like he just came out of a coal mine. No one had ever stopped to help him out, that didn't mean he couldn't help someone out himself.

Satake walked up to the boy and smiled, "What's your name?" The boy wiped his greasy face and looked up at Satake hesitantly.
"My names Kero," he told Satake tentatively. Satake smiled in response and nodded his head,
"I have an Uncle named Kero. What are you doing here?"
"I-I don't want to talk about it," Kero said as he looked down at the ground. Satake took the coin out of his pocket and handed it to Kero.
"You don't have to tell me, just do me a favor and get yourself something to eat." Kero looked at the coin with concern.
"I couldn't take your money." Satake recalled how earlier he was the same way, unwilling to accept the coin from Hanabi.
"Trust me, it'd be better use din your hands," Satake said with a wink as he walked away. He could sleep outside or better yet on the volcano. If Hanabi asked he could just make up some excuse about how the rooms were all filled. He wondered why he was so willing to help out Kero and figured it was because he himself had been down the same path. Maybe someday Kero would get on his feet and things would get better, justa s they had for Satake.

With these thoughts in mind, Satake decided to explore the rest of the town. He then remembered Haru and Hanabi talking about some old fortuneteller, maybe hearing a fortune would be kind of fun. After asking around town Satake learned about Aunt Wu and headed towards her abode. A she went along his way he whistled happily. Someday he would return to his family, maybe even do something great but until that day came he would make due with helping people with the little things.

"Well, come in, young earthbender," Aunt Wu said in her usual kindly, caring tone. "Goen here will fetch you some bean curd that you can eat after I've done your reading. In the meantime please enter this chamber and sit on one of the cushions by the fire." Goen nodded to Haru and turned down the hallway toward the kitchen. Meanwhile Aunt Wu herself retreated to one of the aforementioned cushions and placed herself on it as casually but respectably as possible.

"Now. I assume you've come to learn about your future? Your path? Your talent for bending? Whatever it is, I can help you find the answers. I don't know them myself, but my own unusual talent is for reading other people," she explained as if they were old friends and this was an everyday sort of topic for conversation. "I can either read the lines in the palm of your hand; you can have a bone reading, where you take one of those bones," she indicated the large vat in a nearby corner of the room, "and cast it into the fire, and then I read the cracks. Or, you can have your future read more thoroughly, through the use of tarot cards." She pulled the deck of cards closer to her.

"Meng! Did you eat all the curd?"
"NO. Open your eyes and look on the top shelf."
"Ouch."

Aunt Wu didn't bat an eye at the exchange down the hall until she heard the last voice. Etsuko. It was a casual "ouch" that she had uttered, not a painful I'm-going-into-labor "ouch", but still she would have to be very aware of Etsuko. Goen and Meng were doing fine as midwives... er, midwife and mid"husband"... but Aunt Wu would be doing the delivering herself.

Hanabi looked around seeing her companions head into town, she knew for a fact that Haru was going to head over to Fortune Teller Wu's place, and she was sure she didn't have any fortune she wished to see of her own. Not even for fun.

Hanabi into the town walking towards the mountain breathing in the air which had a slight smell resemblent to burning earth, obviously a smell that was common around volcanos for a ways. To most it would be a dismissable smell a hardly noticable scent of ash and soot in the air, Hanabi however knew better, having been raised in the Fire Nation she knew the geologies and such of a volcano. the smell of slight soot meant that the Volcano had erupted less then ten years ago and the dirt where the lava had flowed and the ash and soot had fallen still had volcanic ash in it. It also meant life would sprout fast, consuming the ash as a great food for the plants. Judging by the fact that outside of town seemed lush but there was no overgrowth, Hanabi wagered that the eruption had missed the town itself or had been diverted, and the smell of ash was because she was downwind of where the eruption had taken place. Normally she also knew volcanic ash and gasses where toxic, but after a breaf amount of time the toxicity would die down, and now, the land around was in a rife state to regrow.

Hanabi smiled deciding that she liked this town, and that she might have just thought of Haru and Satake's next lesson, the lesson of Fire and Earth. It would be an important one to teach and would put a better understanding of Balance in the Earthbenders, and Balance as she knew was of utmost importance in bending, more so in earthbending then even firebending.

Hanabi started to trudge her way towards the Shops in the smaller town.

When she arived Hanabi made her way to a store that provided food and payed for some traveling provisions and rope, when training one could never have enough rope.

As she was about to leave the town she saw something that made her smile, a spelunking store, she hadn't seen one of those forever.

Hanabi darted with glee to the booth and started to gaze eagerly at the supplies when a figure of an old man popped over the booth, "What items fancy your interests today?! TAAAH!!!" Hanabi stopped dead looking up, it was that same old man who had piked her the Earth Rumble tickets and sold her her training equipment... at least, he looked like him, and rasped like him, "Do I know you?!" she asked sure, "Nope girl, never seen you before in my life. You look like you need supplies, what can I do for you?! TAAAAH!!!" Hanabi's expression flattened, it was him, she knew it, and he was yanking her chain, ohh well, he was useful it seemed and she needed stuff, "I need Grappling Hooks, lots of grappling hooks, Rope, never can have enough rope, some canteens for cave use, Three of them." she said to him. The old man scrounged around, "Here we go... here we go... Twenty Grappling Hooks, a good hundred feet of rope to go with the rope you already have, and three water canteens, that will be five gold peaces." Hanabi reached into her pouch taking out five of her remaining six gold peaces handing them to the Old Man, "Thanks, Old Sir." she said honestly greatful to have such an insightful old salesman in the town. "Will I ever see you again?" she asked, "Nope, you won't. TAAAAH!!!" the rasp was followed by some wet coughing and the man sitting down, "No loitering, AWAY WITH YOU!!!" Hanabi smiled bowed and left.

Hanabi turned away having her pack full and about a gold left, and checked her bag, she had enough food for three to travel on, grappling hooks, about a hundred and fifty feet of good rope and canteens to hold clean water.

Hanabi took one last stop at a pottery store, "I need three specific dishes." Hanabi said entering looking around, "Three bowls, a Large Bowl ment for bread making, prefferably thick and clay, pollished and sealed. a wider, flat peace of clay that has a slight dip at the center and a smaller bowl that can fit inside of the large bowl with the dip shaped peace over the top." The woman nodded to Hanabi giving the girl a strange expression, "Why do you need such an odd combination of dishes?" the woman asked Hanabi, "Something my father tought me." she said to her, "Survival trick." the old lady gave her a sceptical look but did as Hanabi instructed.

Hanabi left now, her pack totally full and she turned heading towards the Volcano, she would have a bit of time she knew to practice and test her tactics.

Hanabi reached the well on the way out of town and filled two of the three canteens with water putting them in the bag and started her trek up the Volcano.

Time passed as Hanabi followed the winding paths, making shortcuts where she could with the grappling hook and rope to scale up large portions of the path to the Volcano, she was sure she would arive there first.

When she finally reached the top of the Volcano she smiled feeling the waves of heat, she knew now it was time to start seeing how well her Water Gathering technique would work. She went and went down the other side of the volcano a bit finding a trickle of water that was flowing along an ash ridden rock, she knew for a fact that the ash would be in the water making it undrinkable, but this was part of the trick she knew. Hanabi got to work half filling the large bowl with the dirty ash water. She made her way back up the Volcano setting down the water bowl feeling around for a super hot rock, to hot for her to touch, which supprising enough wasn't hard to find, she knew the sun would rise from the east also and on this rock the bowl would have direct exposure to the sun, she took the Water Bowl up again setting it on top of the super hot rock and took the flat dipped peace of clay and the smaller shallow bowl, Hanabi set the smaller bowl inside of the large bowl and set the dipping peace of clay on top of the two bowls, with the smaller bowl centered and the large bowl heated and the inversed clay lid aimed inwards the heat would build inside she and the steam would collect on the downward dipped lid, and with no escape for the steam it would collect and drip down the dip into the smaller bowl, the process of turning the dirty water to steam would remove the ash and contaminating elements from it and in a few hours she'd have a cup of clean water.

Hanabi smiled at her contraption, her Uncle whom she saw as a father had when they had dwelt bellow the Southern Air Temple at sea level had used this technique to draw clean water from sea water by seperating the water from the sea salt by boiling it and collecting the steam with this vary same condensation technique.

This technique could allow her to clean any filth from water that wouldn't carry with the steam, and it would remove all hard contaminence that couldn't be got out by conventional boiling of the water.

Hanabi smiled at the memories as she walked over feeling the beating heat of the hot rocks of the Volcano as she neared it's mouth, she peered in, but the Volcano was inactive this day, probably would be for a long time, but it didn't stop it from being a swelteringly hot place.

Hanabi took her low stance her legs spred distributing her weight evenly allowing her arms too reach low for low attacks and also to touch the ground, this stance while appearing to look like an Earthbenderish stance was meant in truth for her specific style to gather fire from low places like if she was standing on coals or the ground was hot like standing on a Volcano.

Hanabi lowered a hand feeling the heat radiating to her palm her inhailing a deep breath drawing the heat from the breath and pulling heat from the ground into her hand, exhailing a breath that was warmer then the one she had taken in. She inhailed another one acumulating heat inside of her drawing the heat up her arm warming her hands deep to the core her feeling the heat of her palms growing to a hot level, Hanabi to test rather her hand where hot enough took a small peace of the rope she had and clasped it in her hand hearing a sizzling noise as her hand burned into the rope drying it out, catching the single foot of rope she was holding on fire. Hanabi with a flick severed the foot of rope from the rest of it.

Hanabi smiled, her technique had not lost strength, "By the burning bowls of Avatar Roku, it has been a while." she muttered thinking about how she hadn't been able to practice firebending sense her trip in the wilderness when Haru was recovering from the Rumble Arena.

Nither of her companions knew she was a Firebender, and it was probably for the best, she was a loyal citizen of the Fire Nation, but she was not military, however most people she knew would see her being a Firebender as her being an invader from another land.

Hanabi spun her arms now that she had felt the heat bellow changing to a mid hight stance meant for wide cover and sweeping movements rotating her arms in huge circular motions that sweaped the air, this was another of her styles stances, it was based on a dipiction in the Southern Air Temple of an Airbender gathering air, however she couldn't gather air, but she could still reach out and pull heat from the air and use it to increase the speed of her gathering.

After a few moments gathering she focused the heat down her arms gathering the fire into her hand calmly dodging around moving quickly, her style gathered fire to slowly to be stationary while preparing an attack, if she held still, the rather slow speed gathering the fire into an attack would be long enough for another bender or person to slip in and attack breaking the attack, so she had to be nimble and prepare each attack with care and precision. After about ten seconds of dodging the threw a single powerful fireball that was four feet in diameter striking a pile of rocks with it blasting the rock target apart, for the slow and ponderous nature of the style the techniques where strong, meant for blasting thought minor defences and was impervious to light waterbending attacks, a water whip would hardly deminish one of these fireballs, and a small rock would simply go through the fireball but be too small to break it's form heading towards an enemy.

She practiced this proceeding switching stances over and over, from high to low, gathering in her different forms gathering large balls of fire throwing them, making sure never to let them fly into the sky.

After quite a while of practicing Hanabi left her camp heading towards the side of the mountain aimed away from the town, where no one would be able to see this technique, she wanted to practice her most powerful technique.

Hanabi stopped seeing a huge and solid rock, thick and dence packed rock probably granite, but she wasn't vary sure, she was good at survival, not verifying different veriaties of rock.

Hanabi this time imagined her opponent inside the granite shielding himself, desperately trying to regather ground having been driven back, she exhailed her breath completely taking a rooted stance her feet sliding apart as she felt the dirt beneath her feet slide to the side rooting her stance, it was a needed mesure she knew. Hanabi started to gather heat inhailing a new breath breathing deeply inwards pulling the heat quickly from the air exhailing the cooled air taking in another lung full, to another it would look like she was panting heavily.

The heat in the air around her she felt pulling into her as she focused until the air stopped feeling warm to her skin, the heat in her building to feverish levels her finally unable to pull heat from the air in her lungs, the air from her mouth exiting in a steam much like ones breath on a frosty winter day.

For her this process took ten seconds, her non existant opponent wouldn't be able to see her, if his granite shield had an eye hole she would not need this technique meaning he was unable to see her, and was in the granite blind to her gathering attack thinking of a plan.

Hanabi aimed her right hand at the rock bracing her wrist with her left hand clasping the wrist tightly, focusing, the heat gathered in her being forced into her hand redirected from her lungs, from her breath and gut, all focusing into her one hand, heat building around her hand, steam raising as the sweat on her hand burned away into a steam the heat building, the heat on her hand begining to hurt as it escaped, the numbed area of the scar she had from her youth, pain building in her hand from the heat, the reason she used her scarred hand was the wound had made it totally numb and the center, allowing her to gather more heat before the pain would escape the scarred area. Now however she felt the pain to the tip of her fingers, her skin turning red on her hand.

Hanabi's teath where clenched her entire body feeling cold while her hand felt like she had dipped it into a camp fire, the heat rushing back into the air around her, her letting out a roar releasing the heat.

Hanabi's braced stance did it's job as fire erupted from her palm, not loosely but in an extremly tight line two feet wide in diamiter streaking from her hand, her sliding back two feet even in her braced stance from the sudden releasal of flame. The Pounding Line of fire streaked through the air catching the small patches of grass along the ground under it, the heat from the line enough to catch the dry grass beyond the range of the visible line itself.

The line struck the boulder blasting into it heating its core detonating the granate boulder causing it to explode flying into super heated chuncks of rock, the pounding line pearcing clean through it soaring into the ground blasting a hole into the ground behind the rock that went down five feet.

The line ran out of heat and energy from her hand, the entire attack after exiting only lasting two seconds at most, when it vanished air rushed in where the line had been replacing the air that had been consumed instantly in the vast heat of the attack making a shocking almost reverberating boom, the same kind of boom as when air rushes to fill the gaps in the air made by lightning.

While not as loud as true thunder, anyone near the Volcano could hear the loud noise.

Hanabi smiled triumphantly, the attack was perfect, it was not meant to attack a fast moving foe, it was meant to destroy the rooted, blast through solid walls, and even the strongest of Earthbender Defences. Hanabi turned looking at her hand, covered in first degree burns from releasing the technique, despite her chi being that of a Firebender, her fire had been so hot, that just gathering it all into her hand had left her hand burned, and she knew she would need to heal it.

When Hanabi arived at camp she reached into the bag, shivering slightly, her core tempature still a tiny bit cold from redirecting all of her heat. She saw her bag and opened it taking out some white Bandage Gause and walked over to the bowls opening it, dipping the Gause into the mineral water bellow the smaller bowl which had already gathered a drink worth of consumable water. She took the bandage and started to Wrap her hand started at her wrist which had her handprint on it in a first degree burn and wrapped it all the way up to her palm double rapping it, the moisture feeling good on her hand.

Hanabi knew she could only use that Pounding Line technique three times in a week, if she did it again before these light burns recovered at least some, she'd cause herself to get second degree burns, and again after that, third degree, if she tried again she could possibly render her arm totally immoble and burnt beyond usage, it was a dangerous technique, for herself as well as her target, but with care, it, like a fine two edged sword, would not cut it's wealder.

Hanabi closed her eyes and started to medetate, gathering in small amounts of heat to normalize her core tempature, a method to prevent herself getting sick with hypothermia from using the move. While her hand had been burned, it had left her core rather cold, and if she didn't equilize within a short order, she could get sick as though she where freezing too long.

Haru bowed again as he did as she instructed; surprisingly, the cushion was soft under him as he knelt, something he was used to doing at home. He found it odd that the fire seemed no hotter up close than it did from the doorway, but the smell of incense that filled the room was almost overpowering. He felt his head getting heavy, but he needed to be fully awake and aware.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Aunt Wu," he said, bowing his head slightly. He felt strange for bowing so much, but he had been taught by his parents to show respect for those you respected, and Aunt Wu happened to fall into that category.

He paused for a moment, considering the options he had for getting his fortune told, and he eyed each carefully. Bone reading might be fascinating, but he wanted to go with...

"Tarot cards, please," he said breathlessly, trying his hardest not to look like he was suffocating on the thick smoke. Finally, something inside him kicked in and had him breathing normally, something he was more than happy for. He took an easier breath and smiled.

"I apologize. But tarot cards, please," he said more calmly, almost sheepish for how he must have looked earlier. Hopefully, she wouldn't take offense.

Aunt Wu smiled. The incense which she personally thought was rather faint had released a cloud of thick smoke. This was quite a sign, really. The earthbender must be quite powerful. "No, I apologise," she said, tapping the incense coil behind her. "Coriander is quite a strong and pungent smell to those that aren't used to it, even diluted as it is by Dragon's Blood and Bay Laurel. I'll extinguish it for now." She pinched her fingers on the end of the coil until not even a thinnest waft of smoke rose from it.

"Now then. Tarot cards, you ask? Very well." She slid the deck, all 52 cards of it, toward Haru. "First, take the cards in your hands, and shuffle them very carefully — not like you shuffle playing cards, mind you, but by pulling out some cards at random and placing them at the front, over and over, occasionally flipping one or two around. Now, as you shuffle, I want you to concentrate on everything about you — who you are, where you come from, what you want from life. Focus that energy into your hands as you shuffle. Above all, never look at the cards.

"Next, when you feel in your heart that the cards are just right, place them all in a stack face-down next to you. Then one by one, take eleven cards off the top of the deck, and place them in a row face-up between us." She smiled encouragingly. "Go ahead," she added.

OOC: Kai, wait until you get my next PM before you reply please. Thanks!

Hru absorbed her instructions like a sponge, making sure he got everything so he wouldn't corrupt the reading somehow. When she was finished, he nodded to indicate that he understood.

He picked up the deck of cards, feeling how light they were in his hand. As she'd instructed, he shuffled the cards, turning some of them randomly when he felt he should. Not once did he look at the cards; rather, he relied on his sense of touch to keep the cards in line. Eventually, something told him to stop and he did, setting the cards to his left. One by one, he revealed the cards as they came off the top of the deck.

The card that came off of the top of the deck said Daleon – Spirit (Ace) of the Summer Court. Beneath that was Pedeiri Eindraer – Three of the Winter Court. Next to these, four new cards were laid down: Aidan Gwenaver Iorwen – Two of the Winter Court, Carca – Lady of the Spring Court, Glinia – Spirit (Ace) of the Winter Court, reversed, and Vulcanor Coodan – Six of the Winter Court.

Next, another three cards came off the top. Elnou Maelios – Six of the Autumn Court, Arashi – Lady of the Winter Court, and Tempeste – Lady of the Autumn Court. And then at last, the final two cards drawn, Aisling Firekeeper - Two of the Spring Court, reversed and Aiylora siricia Rhys – Two of the Autumn Court.

When he finished laying the cards in a row as she'd asked, he eyed the images on the cards. Some were reversed, but none of them made sense.

"So, what does this all mean?" he asked Aunt Wu.

OOC: I will try to abbreviate the reading as much as possible.[/size]

Aunt Wu held up a finger to indicate Haru should be patient, and she scanned the cards, turning them around in her mind — the ones that she saw as reversed, which was all of them except "Glinia" and "Aisling Firekeeper", were actually right-side-up to Haru. She read the general meanings of the cards, and combined them with the common sense things she could "read" off of Haru himself. With a deep breath, she smiled and began.

“You are represented by this card,” she began, pointing at Daleon, a transparent animal-shaped spirit hiding behind a fern, on a small earthy globe. “You house a powerful spirit in your body and you are in touch with life and planet as it unfolds and exists around you. Your passion is for helping people; you insist on fairness and equality with those you spend time with; and you have the qualities of a leader. Your question is indicated by the following card.” She tapped the short, pointed-ears man standing in the middle of the forest, Pedeiri, whose face looked wicked on the left side, and sorrowful on the right. “It largely concerns trust, and whether you can place it in the people in power around you. This card has no answer.” Hesitantly, she decided to explain one card out of order, and pointing at the archer Arashi further down the line, she added, “The mental aspects of your question involve what you believe to be the proper use and designation of such power.”

She now gestured at the group of four cards. “Here we see obstacles in your path, and then your past, present, and near future,” she nudged the card of Aidan, a simple woman who appeared to be nothing more than a waterbender. “Nothing will hinder you more than your innate simplicity – and this is not meant as an insult, but as a guide. To live in this harsh world, you must abandon the idea that everything is either black or white. There are complicated things, what we call ‘shades of grey.’” The next card was that of Carca, a black-haired woman with feline hands and bird wings, shown with a wolf on one side and a deer on the other, but all three beings had tiger claws, mismatched red and grey eyes, and a lion’s tail. “Your past is dominated by great changes in your family, and struggle in your personal life,” was all she had to say on this matter, and, “Your present is motivated by your memories,” in response to the next card. Glinia’s card portrayed a spirit in the form of a small innocent-looking girl with six large wings, semi-transparent, holding a large book and turning the ground beneath her feet to ash.

“Your near future is indicated here at the end of this group, and your distant future at the beginning of the next group of cards,” Aunt Wu now continued. “Vulcanor was a man cursed to become an animal at night, and could choose to become half-animal during the day. Like you, his struggle would be wanting to use his power for good, when others expected him to use it for evil.” Her hand flowed over that card, to the one of Elnou Maelios, the hooded figure with small horns coming out of his forehead, holding a staff topped by a red sphere. “In the more distant future, it appears that, for a time, it would be wise to hide who you truly are, so that you can seek out your enemies without them seeking you out themselves.

“These are the two cards that interest me most, however,” she indicated Tempeste, a woman with glowing dark blue hair and a fish tail, floating underwater in front of a shipwreck; and Aisling, a blind robed woman caressing with one hand the flame that grew from the other, shown on a mountaintop. “Tempeste represents what will help you on your journey – a woman with the intrinsic power to hide what she is from others, who has a fascination for the unknown and for the hidden powers of things around her. But the reversed Firekeeper card, now, that’s interesting. It means that you might be blind to the passion or firepower of one traveling with you, perhaps even the woman that Tempeste represents. You must be on your guard, Haru. I believe however that your final outcome will be one of great happiness – with cautious skepticism,” she concluded, leaning back from the card of Aiylora, a three-inch-tall woman with dragonfly wings.

Hanabi finished her medetation on top of the mountain pondering leaning back looking at the stars smiling at the sky, her orange eye, and her scarred and faded left eye peering into the sky, the world had rarely looked entirely the same sense she had got the scar over her eye, not that the scar had much effect rather then damaging the eye enough to make it so it can only adapt well to darkness.

"Why am I being so hard on those people?" she muttered thinking about her rather harsh words about Aunt Wu possibly being a fraud and such, she frowned guessing it was probably unfair, If she 'could' tell the future it was probably a gift and a curse that got her undue judgement and if she was a fraud it would be apparent.

Hanabi stood up looking around at her makeshift water colector and grabbed her Backpack slinging the overly heavy and filled backpack over her sholdier. She walked to the edge of the mountain looking down into the town, she then tilted her head a bit to the left taking a sniff at her own underarm deciding 'that this would not do at all.'

She took out her grapling hook bracing it on some rocks testing it with a tug, she would be back and pick up the hook later. With a smile she grabbed the rope and started to slowly repel down, getting faster as she took this Rope Shortcut back towards town climbing down the rope with a lithe speed until she felt her feet touch the ground, she could feel the lowering heat index as she got off of the elevated rocks that where exposed to the sun and kept from getting cold by the volcano warming the world under it by a small margen. She always loved Volcanos they where an interesting part of nature, distructive yet at the same time in the wake of an eruption life was most prevailent.

Hanabi looked up at the sheer and rather smooth rock face, noticing some small inlets that she could push her fingers into and that with enough heat on her hands she wagered she could probably widen the tiny handholes, but using enough heat to just burn water and using the heat to widen a fisher in rock was on a totally different level of skill, and she knew that if she was going to widen the rocks enough for Haru's larger hands to get good grabs on the wall, especally with his low degree of training in rock climbing that she would need to widen the holes a lot, probably with full concussive Firebending attacks, "That would be folly." she muttered to herself imagining being a towns person looking at the volcano and seeing bright sparks going in a repetative fashion, either they would assume lava was jetting from the ground, which was impossible with the volcano in it's current state, or they would think the Fire Nation was attacking and she'd have a lynching mob or an evacuating town on her hands. "So no climbing this wall for Haru..." she muttered, the holes again she noted she could get a grasp on, but her hands while caloused, tough and wirey where quite smaller then his.

Hanabi turned away from the wall finally looking back at the rather peaceful town striding towards the Township under the Volcano and deciding that when she reached town that she would apologize to Aunt Wu for saying ill of her behind her back, while she was skeptical of rather or not she was real, her firey temper and quick nature had led to an unfair judgement.

First however, sense only Haru knew her thoughts and was probably seeing Aunt Wu, came a bath, coming in smelling like ash, soot and body odour would practically effend anyone.

Hanabi's first stop was by the Bath House entering silently she took out one of her gold coins having the bath attendent devide her change and went into the back to bathe, she knew she looked like she had been scaling a Volcano. Hanabi reached up unfastening her Gi starting to undress to bathe...

...

...Hanabi smiled having enjoyed her bath, she looked around dressed in a towl before nodding to herself suddenly running over to her backpack while in her towl digging around in it tell she produced from the lower part a second Gi, Identical to the first that she had bought when she had got her first gi. In a quick minute Hanabi was dry and ready to go, her hair was still wet she wagered, but she never really did much with it, part of her mind debating shaving her head bald, it seemed practical, but for some reason she had a feeling she would feel wierd shaved bald. "Meh, I'll do it myself next time my hair prooves to be a hinderence." she muttered to herself, thinking back, it had yet to proove hindering. Hanabi took some small beads made from tiny animal bones, like claws, fangs, small paw bones, and she started to braid the part of her bangs that would drift naturally into her eyes, using the Bone Beads to hold the braids. She smiled looking at each one, Two from seperate wild Predators which tried to eat her, there meat had tasted strange, and several from actual game she hunted and her most recent bead from her last hunt to which she still had some dried meat from.

Hanabi after a while was satisfied that she was done and started to walk towards Aunt Wu's house. She really didn't need directions, it was the nicest and biggest house in town, near the center of the town she wagered where she could ply her skill and be most easily accessed by the town as a whole, considering the way the town seemed to love her, it seemed a likely place to put her.

Hanabi's guess had not led her astray within a few minutes of walking she raised a hand to knock on the door.

Then it began to Nag at Hanabi, what was her future, sure she didn't want to know the time and manner of her death, or who she would marry, but a general hint of awareness wouldn't be bad, would it? she wondered her palm resting on the door a moment, this happened occasionally she realized, she'd get shy and not knock the first time.

Hanabi gritted her teeth slightly raising her hand making a firm but polite sounding knock on the door. Inside Hanabi knew she was shy and somewhat introverted in some ways, especally when it didn't have fighting, but she also knew if she forced herself foot forward every step that it would probably never hinder her.

Hanabi after knocking waited.