A single small boat rocks back and forth on icy seas. No sails adorn its small mast. No oars are found within. Auka stands with a harpoon raised above his head. He is dressed warmly, the only visible skin is seen through the hood of his parka. I watch him, sitting across the boat. He appears not to notice me. "What are you doing?" I ask him without expecting a response. "I'm hunting."
"You're hunting for a whale with a harpoon and a boat not much larger than a canoe?"
"Yes, I don't think I'll catch one, but why stop trying now."
"Who are you?"
"You."
"Me?"
"You're trying to catch a whale with a harpoon, so am I. I'm that voice inside your head that won't let you drink all your problems away every night. The part of you that doesn't feel fulfilled waking up to a different woman every morning."
"Life would be easier without you."
"Maybe, but who do you think is going to catch this whale first."

The full implications of the words have no time to register in my head before the before me melts away.

I walk through the tower arch way, a gigantic single tower of ice, to large for an army of benders to have created. Though my vision is blurry, I somehow know the intracacys of the carvings on the walls and floor are beautiful beyond my comprehension. A vast column thicker than one of the great Earth Kingdom trees rises up through the middle of the spire with a serpentine stair-case of ice encircling it. Hundreds, if not thousands of doors are placed periodically leading into the column. Before each door stands Auka. Facing the doorway with his back turned to me unawares of my intrusion. He looks different every time. Weary, angry, joyfull, with hundreds of other emotions. Every incarnation wears a different blue. Makes me wonder just how many shades of blue can exist. I almost begin to count them all, make sure there are no doubles. A voice is heard before me, I already know what it's going to say.
"Who do you want to be?" I cannot answer. In more ways than one. "Choose quickly, or you'll be no one." Aukaneck stands before me. Barly up to my chest. He can't be more than eleven. Already I can see he will have a strong build. He smiles with the gladness only children posses. A happiness I, along with all those past those sweet years, long for. Choosing not to heed his warning I take time to contemplate my decision. Eventually I take a step towards to the column. With a quick step I bend my own doorway, at the base of the column. I walk through it, unsure, but not afraid.
Good Choice.[/color]

Inside a cave inside a canyon onside a mountain a figure stirred. A pair of eyelids slowly, but not groggily opened up reavealing hard eyes the colour of cerulean. Auka sat up silently with no recollection of his dreaming. It was still night, he could tell. The blistering heat of the Earth Kingdom had dropped, Almost a degree. Still shirtless the grumpy Waterbender crawled his way onto a small patch of moonlight nearer to the entrance of the dark cave. Immediately he felt energized and relieved at the same time. His muscles relaxed and the pain of his newly treated wound subsided significantly. His eyes closed as he inhaled deeply, enjoying the moment experianced when first feeling the moon. The temporary high quickly faded, time dulled the contrast of the two feelings, with and without the moon, and it quickly became Auka's normal state. The rain had subsided but puddles still littered the ground outside. Hunger pains raked the man's stomach but he ignored them. Though know thirst plagued him the brown haired man thought his companions might be. At least after they woke up. With the moon's extra strength it took no effort at all to raise enough water from the puddles, sepearate the sweet liquid from the rocks and dirt, and carry it swiftly but silently into the flask he had 'found' in Omashu. Barely paying any attention he levitated the full flask over to where he could he best remember the midpoint between Piandao and Chiye. The flask floated slowly to the ground with nothing but a soft thud.

Auka may have been tired but the heavy heat would prevent him from getting any more real sleep tonight. He stretched out inside the patch of moonlight like a contented dog and closed his eyes anyway. Strangely enough his thoughts drifted to Piandao and not the companion that had drawn his attention for the landslide majority of the short time they had been aquainted.

Specifically he tried to imagine training with the legendary swordsmaster. Auka could not see himself lasting ten seconds in a real battle with the older man. Auka wielded his swords as extensions of his own body, but the living legend weilded them as if very extensions of his being. It was as if the swords acted simply on his thoughts, he would will the manouvre they would preform and it would be so. Auka knew better. Such mastery was not the result of some sort of magic, but years, decades, of utter devotion and practice of his craft.

It was a tempting thought to seek any master, let alone was as magnificant as the one that had seemingly fallen onto his lap. Very tempting. His ever-constant insecurites still spoke against it. However strangly the usual raging whirlwind of conflicting views was absent of his mind. For the first time in a long time he was thinking as a single being. I must be maturing. No you're not. Ohp, never mind. Even the moment of clarity and single-mindedness was an accomplishment. Auka's greatest flaw was more than likely his habit of arguing with himself. As if one side of him had to debate with the others. Often he just ended up confused. And he never really got to the point of what he was trying to figure out, because usually tangents distracted him from the point at hand. I hate tangents...wait what was I thinking about before?

After five minutes of thought and trying to retrace the trigger words that created all the tangents Auka remembered something about swords.

Right...right...teacher, ask him tomorrow. Mental note. Probably a better idea to write it down...no ink.[/i]

The stars caught Auka's eyes and he gazed at them until morning.
But not really.
A pair of stars made him think of Chiye's eyes.
Then he thought they were more like a pair of twin burning golden suns.
Then the thought of sun reminded him of oranges, oranges reminded him of food.
Different thoughts of food occupied him almost until dawn.
Until thoughts of Chiye resurfaced again.

The sun was up now and Auka had hardly noticed. The large shape was sprawled just outside of the cave entrance much like a contented dog. The sun was now up and the unforgiving heat was upon him again. His naturally dark skin had already promised him he would never recieve a sun burn from birth to death. Lying in the morning sun the heat almost seemed relaxing, or at least bareable. A nice change with out a doubt. A quiet adorable yawn ending with a soft sigh escaped his mouth accompanied by a large stretch and the familiar click of his lips smacking gently together afterword. A disgustingly un-macho habit that had never quite been taken out of his system.

Not a great deal of time ever an oh-so sweetly familiar but obviously not fully awake voice uttered, “Morning, had a nice sleep?” Wondering if he had been caught red handed his cerulean eyes shot open. How long have you been there? were the first words to reach his embarassed lips. But, rolling over and facing the girl he replied with a grin (for he rarely actually 'smiled' persay) and another simple. "Morning." His voice was clear, lacking the trademarked growly incoharent mumble which was his voice during the first five-to-ten minutes he was awake. The sight of black hair walking away without listening made his spirits sink.

Auka noticed the raven-haired girl's clothes in a heap by the fire and toyed with the idea of getting up to catch a view of her before the blouse struggled to contain her bust. Something that would otherwise mostlikely get in the way during a fight. It would have been impossible to be inconspicuous but in the end laziness as opposed to decency kept him on the ground.

He allowed himself a quite chuckle as he saw Chiye fumble with her obi in an incredibly un-ladylike way. If his sister had done something like that she would have recieved a glare that could have brought summer to the North from his mother. "You know I can help you with that. I had to tie them once a night for a week in a row, I won't say why. Don't ask. It was part of a costume, I swear I was getting payed for it. Not much..." At this point saying, "I'm going to be quiet now," really didn't seem necessary. He had forgotten one crucial rule of manhood. Never offer a woman help, or advice, with -anything- that doesn't involve lifting. Purposely dodging eye-contact with the golden eyes he managed to push himself off the ground and retrieve one of his sharpened swords. Nodding agreeably with the much louder than usual ring of vibrating steel he drew it from the sheath. The sword had not looked better the day it was made. The swordsmaster almost put his reputation to shame.

The middle-aged warrior now began to stir. It was more than obvious he was losing the suppleness of his youth, but was not yet old enough for it to be affecting his daily performance noticably. He heard the short dialouge between the reluctant master and her would-be student only vaguely. His mind was too focused on following the shiny patch of sun on his sword to utilize his ears to their full capacity. Piandao's next words did a much better job of grabbing his attention."Are you up for some morning excercise, Auka? Some light sparring might help to shake out the cobwebs."

The young man grinned. The grin that was more often used to hide his true responses and thoughts then to display elation. It was only a matter of time before these two observant comrades noticed it. The expression lasted one beat too long as his mind tried to process the full implications of the invite. Fortuneately the man's signature enthusiasm saved Auka from providing a response. "We're in the same boat here. We have to impress her...just for different reasons. It's an opportunity for a macho moment...for the both of us." without hesitation Piandao stood up. "If you're game I'll be outside." A dozen 'old/keep up' comments twirled their way around Auka's head but they seemed to really get under the middle-aged man's skin and this ass-whooping was going to be bad enough as is. Instead he chose easier prey. "How about it Kitten? Care to see how a pair of real men throw down?"

Mustering all the confidance he could the big man put his sword down and walked against his better judgement through the jagged threshold of the cave.

Phsyically speaking, the Water Bender had many advantages over his older counterpart. He was built taller and stronger, he was in the prime of his youth, nearly peaking in agility, as opposed to the man now starting to see his prime beginning to fade. However Piandao's experiance and skill already closed this gap 10 fold. Waterbending would put them on much more even ground but that was comparable to cheating in this case. Recieving one of the practice swords with a curteous half-bow (A motion considerably foreign to most people born in the Water Tribe not fed with a silver spoon.) It felt far too light in his hand, but the length was still adequate for him. He gave Piandao a few paces distants and faced him like a regular opponent. He kept his grip on the club (for a club it was) strong but relaxed and took a defensive posture. Waiting for his opponent to ready himself.

"Lets make a deal," he felt a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "If I win, I'll ask you any three questions you must answer honestly, if you win the same goes for you. Sound fair?

The big man was facing an extreme dilemma at the moment. He had no clue how to go about attacking his opponent. Without the added weight to his blades his favorite 'break the guard if not the blade' tactic was useless. In cases like this it was usually better to go with instinct than thought.

His move was made. Four light steps closed the gap between the two and a simple yet elegantly smooth horizontal slash from his right shoulder. The first motion was followed quickly with a rapid arc and another slash from the opposite direction.
This is not going to end well.[/i]

OOC: Sorry, guys, I couldn't resist.

IC:

Chiye eyed the legendary swordsman carefully as he slowly awoke. It was probably rather rude to be staring, but she justified it as a bit of student scoping. After all, she knew nothing about the man, other than his reputation, and even just a few slight movements could give her a better understanding of his previous training. Piandao, however, did nothing too far out of the ordinary, with the exception of a few firebending breathing exercises.

But did that mean that he was a firebender? Not necessarily, but maybe. Chiye started trying to wrap her mind around a training regiment that involved both fan and flame, but it seemed like so much. Maybe she should drop the whole plan, since it would be such an extensive program. But that wouldn’t be fair…but…ugh, it was so complicated!

"You know I can help you with that. I had to tie them once a night for a week in a row, I won't say why. Don't ask. It was part of a costume, I swear I was getting payed for it. Not much..."

The voice of the waterbender came from behind Chiye, and took her mind completely off of the swordsman dilemma. But it put her mind on a completely different track, namely the “what the hell is he talking about” train of thought. What kind of job involved working at night and wearing obis?

“…Oh, THAT job,” Chiye thought as she felt herself become slightly disgusted. A gigolo…for men apparently, since he was wearing feminine costumes. Not that she had anything against either prostitutes or cross-dressers personally. It just made her feel a little dirty knowing that a gigolo had been hitting on her all of yesterday. But she decided to brush it off and try not to say anything offensive. “People have different preferences, I guess…”

“Ah…no, I’ve got it,” said the firebender as she turned away in an attempt to hide her initial look of shock.

Luckily, Piandao had interrupted the more than awkward moment with a greeting and a respectful bow. If she wasn’t so preoccupied with trying to conceive how she had managed to get into the company of a gigolo, Chiye might have received a swelled ego from the way that the swordsman was already treating her like a superior. At least, that’s how she thought a superior was treated. A soldier only saluted or stood quietly with downcast eyes in the presence of anyone of higher rank, so she wasn’t very sure of when a bow was appropriate.

But she was probably thinking too much.

“Maybe,” Chiye said in response to Piandao’s question as she watched him rise from the respectful gesture, “but not completely.”

It was true, her mind wasn’t completely made up. The idea of testing the swordsman was still an option, but it felt so strange for the firebender, a girl of 18, to be testing Piandao, a man at least twice her age and tenfold the experience.

But the swordsman had his own ideas, apparently. Without waiting for a decent answer from Chiye, he walked towards the waterbender and asked him for some “light sparring”. The firebender felt her heart lift. A fight! Even if it was only for practice, the prospect of seeing a good fight was just so appealing. She did wish that she could get in on the battle, though. Maybe she’d step in later…

But then she noticed the swordsman bending towards the waterbender and speaking in a hushed voice. The revelation that the younger man might be a gigolo made the entire scene seem like it had far more implications than were there. Chiye found herself looking away with a sharp distaste written across her features. It’s not like it was confirmed that the waterbender was a paid companion, after all. And it was EXTREMELY disrespectful for her to think something like that about Piandao. It had to be all in her mind, it just had to be.

"How about it Kitten? Care to see how a pair of real men throw down?"

OK, that’s it! She HAD to ask whether her impression was true, or whether she was jumping to conclusions. For the sake of her own sanity, Chiye hoped it was the latter. But she nonetheless followed the two men out while she silently cursed herself for having such a gutter mind. ‘It probably isn’t true’ continued reeling through her mind like an old record.

All thoughts about awkwardness and ‘male companionship’ drained away, however, as she watched the two men take up wooden training swords and prepare for the fight. If there was anything that could distract the firebender, it was a good battle. Normally, Chiye would have felt ashamed from being so willing to fight. She had been trying to turn around, after all, and abandon certain traits that had made her into a soldier. That brand of bloodthirstiness was the root of the problem.

Today, however, she needed the distraction.

The waterbender was putting some sort of wager on the fight as Chiye planted herself atop a fallen (and only slightly damp) boulder that was close to the fighting area. She thought it strange that the man would want to bet on this fight, since he was going up against a legendary swordsman. And since Piandao was so much more experienced. And since the waterbender was using a foreign weapon. Actually, when you stacked up the odds, it looked like the younger man might drop dead just from standing in Piandao’s presence.

Chiye grinned broadly as the waterbender took his first swing at the older man. He might just put up a decent fight after all—never mind. A flip to the side allowed Piandao to avoid both of the waterbender’s attacks, and it was only a moment later when the older man had the younger in a losing position. The firebender sighed heavily and audibly. The fight was already over. So much for that.

As expected, Piandao didn’t reap the benefits of victory. The wager, although it had already been a little ridiculous to begin with, was pretty much forgotten and abandoned. Actually, that was a good thing. Chiye had more than a few questions to ask both Piandao and the waterbender.

"Have you made your decision...Sifu Chiye?"

“Oh, that again,” the firebender said unconsciously. She jumped down from the boulder where she had been sitting, crossed her arms, and closed her eyes thoughtfully. The fight was short, but it divulged a necessary nugget of knowledge to the girl. Actually, two.

One, Piandao had the capacity to learn how to use the fans correctly. It was obvious that his little evasive maneuver was somewhat foreign, but he managed to execute it successfully anyway. Even if the man turned out to be a firebender, even just that start would be sufficient.

And Two, Piandao was a damn good swordsman. That much was obvious even with just a small attack. The wooden sword was handled in such a way that it really wasn’t just a wooden sword. It had the same connection to Piandao that fire had to Chiye. It was a part of him.

“I suppose I have made a decision,” she said audibly, opening her eyes to look at the swordsman. “I’ll take you on as a student, but only with a few conditions. You can’t call me ‘Sifu’, for one. It makes me uncomfortable, I don’t know why. And you,” she looked toward the waterbender, “can stop calling me Kitten.”

“Also,” she said, turning back to the swordsman now that she was done interrupting herself, “you have to follow whatever instructions I give you, no matter how strange they may seem. I’ll try not to abuse the power. And,” she paused dramatically as she smirked at Piandao, “you have to teach me how to fight with swords.”

It wasn’t as if she had no training with the weapons at all. It was Fire Nation Army standard that each soldier had a basic level in sword-wielding, but the Army issued swords were ordinary and the drill sergeants weren’t very interested in their jobs. As a result, Chiye was driven away from the swords and instead turned to other sources of weaponry.

“How about it? Do we have a deal?” she asked, extending her hand in hopes of receiving a deal-closing handshake from the legendary swordsman.

((Alright I went back and modified a post so that Auka actually introduces himself to Piandao, I actually meant to when I first made the post but I must have forgotten.))

One move and it was over. Dao dissapeared as the second blow was about to connect. Not a second later a loud snapping noise echoed out along with a sharp pain in Auka's side. A welt would appear very shortly. His shoulder was hurting again. It felt as if one or more of the stitches had been ripped loose. Of course, as usual, pain was only a minor inconvience to him. Dao agreed to the questions and mentioned one of his exploits. Auka was dumbfounded at his honest modesty of defeating 'only one-hundred' men. He only nodded, bitter at just how easily he was defeated. Oh what did you expect? Are you really that arrogant? Now words of praise from the swordsmaster. The Water Tribe youth was utterly humbled. He mimicked the fist-to-palm motion he had seen preformed by the older man a short while ago. "Thank you, it means very much coming from you, Sir."

Dao turned to the raven-haired girl and coaxed her off her perch. There was something in the way she moved, and carried herself, that made her incredibly magnetic to Auka. The quick graceful hop and the arms-crossed contemplative stance brought a genuine smile to Auka's face.

"And you,” The golden eyes fixated briefly on Auka, causing a glint to appear in his, “can stop calling me Kitten.”

Auka shook his head gently and felt his shaggy brown hair shake with him in both directions before falling back into place, exactly where it had been before, an uncanny talent to be sure. "Absolutely not," he quickly cocked his head like a bird of prey and bit the inside of his left cheek gently. No attempt was made to hide the fact he was appraising the girl up and down truly thoroughly for the first time. He quickly added. "But you are cute the way you take yourself so seriously."

She was gorgeous to be sure. The tomboyish friend that everybody liked but liked no one in return. Or at least she could have been in an ordinary world. Did the Fire Nation even have tomboys? What was life like on the homefront during one-hundred years of war? As far as Auka could tell the Fire Nation was made up of soldiers, beaurocrats, aristocrats, lords, and farmers. It was hard to imagine functioning families. So much pressure, so different from his memories of home. Family dinners every night, staying up well past midnight hopping roof tops with his friends. Especially Brachek. Auka smiled at the thought of his oldest best friend. When Auka had been caught doing something against the rules he recieved a harsh-talking to from his mother and a swift commendation from his father. He couldn't imagine what horrors the children who stepped out of line in the Fire-Nation went through.

"That would be fine. I don't think I can teach you much since you have already had basic sword training. You're already forged, you probably just need polishing. Excuse me a moment, please."

Auka grinned once again at the middle-aged warriors words. "Excellent pun good sir, you're learning quickly" They were quickly led inside the cave by the older man's limitless energy. He had a child-like enthusiasm for whatever he was doing. Easily a key factor in his absolute mastery of his art.

While Piandao went through the breeds of sword Auka took the time to admire each one. The craftsmanship was flawless. Perfect blades that looked like they could cut through an Earth Kingdom caterpillar tank and intricately carved handles made these blades a marvel to the eye. The Jian held his attention longest of course. Auka couldn't see himself fighting without a double edged blade, perfect balance of thrusts and slashes. The Kodachi also looked like a promising side arm. It would be useful in the situation that Auka lost both of his princaple blades. In other words about a healthy 80% of his fights.

"Any questions before my fan training starts?"
Auka answered without taking his eyes off of the blade assortment. "Just one actually, can it wait? What I mean to say is, I can see this being an all day thing with you two. It's true all matchsticks, no offense, are perfectionists right? Well I don't really feel like spending another night in this cave without food, and only one water flask between the three of us." The young man paused briefly and looked up to insure he still had the pair's attention. "Look, it's not even midday yet, if we leave now we can make it to the merchant road in just over an hour. It's smooth sailing from there to reach Chin Villiage. From there we can get passage by water to anywhere in the Earth Kingdom. Look I don't have any clue what you two are planning, but when people have no where to go they go to Ba Sing Se. We can get there in a week. How about it?...If we're training together I don't see why we can't travel together..."

Auka felt a little foolish, he always had a habit of talking too much. It didn't make sense to stay in New Ozai, the city was lost, and would be nearly impossible to reclaim. The young man looked at each of his companions in turn, and waited anxiously for their decision.

The cold damp cave felt more at home to the Water Bender than the outside. If he closed his eyes the depressing scene could be confused for a short summer night up North. Intead it was a depressingly dark hell hole which would give small children nightmares. With the dim light Chiye produced the walls and ceiling of the cave came into focus. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like the fangs of a great beast. For some reason the inverted earthen spires were much more ominous looking than the icicles in the North Pole's answer to these caves. Out of the corner of his eye's Auka swore some scaly creature crawled behind every rock in this place, and there were a lot of rocks. He was walking behind Chiye, for obvious reasons, and in front of Piandao. The swordsman seemed skittish but Auka just assumed it was because he didn't have any shoes.

To be completely honest mushrooms didn't appeal much to Auka. He would have preferred to leave for the road right away, but he was flexible. The Waterbender had only learned what mushrooms were four years ago. Mushrooms tasted like soap to him, and he couldn't stomach them anyway after someone had told him they were a type of fungi. He had just assumed vegetable. Rice on the other hand, that was the best part about the Earth Kingdom. Eventually, you just got a little bored of fish, sea-prunes, and seal. Rice was a delicacy only avaible from the few Earth Kingdom ships that passed through the North. In the Earth Kingdom rice was a staple. It was everywhere, and it was cheap. Yeah I could go for some of that all right. Auka wasn't sure if he was thinking about the rice or Chiye. They both seemed equally appetizing at the moment.

It was odd, but Auka could swear there was a source of light coming from the other end of the tunnel. A faint green glow that always seemed one step ahead of the travellers. As they came in contact with the light from Chiye's flame the green seemed to dissapear and once again move just out of the trio's reach. He had heard stories of glowing crystals underground in the Earth Kingdom, but never seen them with his own eyes. He felt his heart quicken at the thought of a small exploring adventure. It looked like this mushroom hunt would actually be entertaining after all. Suddenly another thought occured to him. Caves like this that weren't home to wild animals were home to bandits. He wondered if he should mention the possibility to his friends but concluded it was just a result of his over-active imagination.

A spider caught his eye on the ground and he immediately crushed it under his boot. Auka hated spiders, they creeped him out. He could handle any sort of animal alive, except a spider. He wondered what could have made this cave, it seemed far too narrow to have been made by a badger mole. Those massive mammals could swat a polar bear like a fly, but still scared the Waterbender far less than one of those 8-legged freaks.

"I'm a little worried about badgermoles."

Apparently Piandao didn't share his same sentiments. "I wouldn't worry about that, if Badgermoles made these caves they'd be at least four or five times the size. No it's much more likely these were dug out by canyon crawlers. But those are usually only found up in the Great Divide. No, I think these caves are actually natural." Which didn't mean there wouldn't be some beasties calling it home of course.

Auka had never actually seen a canyon crawler, but he'd heard stories plenty in the taverns of Ba Sing Se. Vicious gigantic insects, they preyed on those foolish enough to bring food into the huge canyon that seemed to cut the Earth Kingdom in half.

"What do you think Kitten? Had your fill of mushrooms yet?

There was no doubt about what the Assaiki just heard, the shrilling scream of a terrified woman. Music to his ears, the only sound more pleasing than that is the one of bones snapping to pieces. He had just been resting on a rock in the middle of nowhere, taking a breather from his long trek to nowhere in particular.

Despite the fact that he was supposed to be resting, the Assaiki still wore the extremely heavy shoulder pieces on each arm. Numerous spikes jutting out from each piece made the villain’s appearance all the more terrifying, like something out of a nightmare. As part of a continuous strength training routine, he always wore the heavy shoulder pieces expect for when he slept. It was just one of many things that this brute did in order to maintain such a herculean body of muscles and raw strength. The Assaiki could easily be the strongest man alive without crossing over into superhuman.

Covered in now dry blood, his trusty mace was lying on the ground beside him. The mace had a perfectly round head, a shaft as long as his body, a sharpened end point, and it was all made from pure steel. Such a blunt weapon required the strongest of the strong to wield, but its power was always devastating.

The Assaiki pondered about the scream he had just hear when suddenly the urge hit him. Like an itch that only gets worse the longer you try to resistance it, the urge to kill filled his mind and body. This urge to crush something beneath him was an urge as powerful as the need to feed. And the Assaiki was always more than compelled to try and satisify these urges. The sounds, sights, and feelings of an object crumbling to pieces always filled the twisted man’s mind with a great sensation of pleasure. It is what he lives for, and how he justifies bringing about the deaths of others.

Looking in the direction that the scream came from, the Assaiki began to assess his surroundings and the situation in order to judge whether it was wise to act upon this urge. The Sun was still sinking just below the horizon; it would be dark soon, but during the failing light before night vision can fully kick in it would be hard to see and focus. The sound came roughly from the direction of a nearby village which could mean lots of people. On top of that it was an earth bending village built upon strong, durable rocks. But then again the village was farther away than he thought the scream was. Would it be possible to lure the person to him using a fire? No, the quality of the rocks and geography was no better here than it was elsewhere plus there was no time to make a fire with the sun already setting.

And the terror that went with that scream, either the women was being attacked by bandits or thugs, or she was witnessing a horrific accident. Either way, it would be a big enough distraction on to sneak closer and get a peek at what was happening. And no women who could defend herself would be screaming like that, especially not an expert bender of any sort. While the bandits or thugs may have already finished her off by the time he reaches her, there could still be a corpse left behind which the Assaiki could use to satisfy his desire to crush.

The Assaiki rose to his feet, a very tall stature of 6 feet 2 inches. It was a menacing height that combined with his massive body, made the Assaiki the closest you could ever get to a real giant. He reached for the mace and gripped its cold steel tightly in his hands, letting the tingle run throughout his entire arm. The sensation of holding the mace brought about its own personal joy because it was usually always followed by the destruction of some object. The mace was considerably heavy, weighing down the Assaiki even more as he strapped it to his back. But this weight, just like the weight of the shoulder pieces, hardly ever bothered him or caused him to tire.

It was decided; the Assaiki would investigate the scream and hopefully be rewarded. The ground trembled beneath his heavy footsteps, leaving fine footprints in its wake. Birds flew away and animals scattered, sensing the approach of a monstrous behemoth. Hopeful as the man got closer, he would find some signs of his prey’s location, like the light of a campfire, the smell of food, or even the smell of death.

OOC: I was a little fuzzy on where they exited the cave, so if you wanted something interesting to happen, just tell me and I can change the post.

IC:

Entering and traveling through the tunnels wasn’t much of a hassle to the ex-soldier. As with any army, survival training was a core study during the long days of boot camp, and the Fire Nation, who sought world domination, made sure to prepare their soldiers for every possible situation. Chiye remembered the days of desert training, jungle training, and frozen tundra training (by far her weakest environment), but underground passage training was a breeze compared to those. The worst situation that could happen was coming in contact with hostile badgermoles who made a point of earthbending the passages into different shapes. These caves were completely safe, however, since there was no evidence of the mammoth sized animals.

Truth be told, Chiye’s worst fear was falling into one of the puddles that were strewn across the dank caverns. The fire that she kept hovering above her hand scared away most of the animals, and it didn’t seem as if any gigantic beasts would appear any time soon. Bandits were a possibility, although the three travelers carried nothing valuable and could easily take out a few robbers. Still, a fight would provide a welcome distraction…and attacking them would be in self defense.

But as Chiye felt the heavy wood of the practice blade against her shoulder, she thought better of it. If a fight were to happen, she’d probably have to step out. After all, the firebender was the only source of light in the caves and she wasn’t going to lose hold of the wooden sword anytime soon, no matter how foreign it felt. The fight would, for the second time that day, belong only to Piandao and Auka. Lucky bastards.

--not that she was interested in fighting.

Still her mind turned to how the other two were faring as they continued trekking through the caves. The firebender found herself glancing back more than a few times, if for no other reason than to make sure that Piandao and Auka were still behind her. They were there alright, but the both of them looked uneasy in the surroundings. Probably hungry, too, now that she thought about it. After all, Piandao had eaten nothing from the previous night (as Chiye had engaged in completely stuffing her face), and there was no telling how the waterbender was faring. But there wasn’t much that could be done about it now, however. It was scrounging for mushrooms or going hungry. Once the three reached the merchant road, maybe they could barter for something decent to eat.

"I'm a little worried about badgermoles."

Chiye said nothing, but merely responded with a small “Tch”. It was partly her expression of displeasure in the breaking of the comfortable silence, since she’d never been much of a talker anyway, but mostly it was a disappointment in Piandao’s observation skills. He was in the army longer than she was and achieved greater successes than she had, so shouldn’t he be able to tell that the caves were too small for badgermoles? Maybe she should stop trusting his reputation.

The firebender was about to say something to the effect of a badgermole explanation, but she was abruptly cut off by Auka…who gave a pretty decent rebuttal to the swordsman. Actually, it was pretty impressive considering that only ice caves existed in the Water Tribes, and there certainly weren’t any badgermoles or canyon crawlers there. It made a girl wonder where he had learned about the dangerous animals. Maybe the Water Tribe had an army with basic training, too. But that would just be a little too ironic. Two Fire Nation ex-soldiers alongside a waterbending soldier. Which reminded her, did the two men even know that she had been in the army? She didn’t remember saying anything, and it couldn’t be that obvious—

"What do you think Kitten? Had your fill of mushrooms yet?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah,” she said, snapping out of her daze. The firebender was getting into more and more of these little daydreams nowadays. Hopefully they’d stop soon else Auka and Piandao mistake her for a daydreaming princess—

“A-And stop calling me Kitten,” she added, a few moments too late. Chiye had almost forgotten to add that familiar statement. Spirits stop her from becoming accustomed to the name. One of these days she’d actually forget to show distaste for it, and then the next step was accepting it. Then what?

Chiye lifted her eyes from the ground (where she had them kept in order to avoid puddles) and looked toward the end of the cave. The beautiful white light that flooded the area only about fifty yards away looked as great as when she had awakened this morning. And the cave passage hadn’t even taken very long, which was a blessing in and of itself. Darkness was another one of those things that firebenders didn’t handle well, but at least it could be remedied with a flame. Unlike rain.

Suddenly a huge blunt object made its way swiftly through the air and straight towards Chiye’s face. Without a doubt in her mind, if she hadn’t ducked at the right time, her head would be across the cave floor. Her hand wasn’t so lucky. As the surprise of the sudden danger made the firebender lose focus, the flame that had been maintained above her hand burst outwards in a small, fiery blast. While it didn’t hit anything of utter importance, the fireburst had made contact with the palm of Chiye’s hand, which prompted a small gasp and clutching the pained appendage close to her body.

“Agni, old man, what the hell was that?” she snapped, her pain immediately turning to anger. But Chiye regretted the words as soon as they slipped through her lips. It was Fire Nation arrogance in the works yet again, and which constantly proved to be a trait not easily forgotten.

Not to mention the fact that she had snapped at Piandao when he was trying to teach her something. That disrespect would earn a soldier some long, intimate hours with a toothbrush and the floor of the mess hall. It wasn’t even like it was a major burn anyway. Losing control of a ball of fire was nothing new, by any means, and the scars that already existed protected her hand from being damaged further. Getting angry over such a little thing was stupid and only proved how much of a kid Chiye was. It was embarrassing.

But Piandao seemed to take it in stride. As the three strolled out of the dark cave, the swordsman described how the sword should sound and how it should be handled. It was the phrase “perfect it, and you will have the hardest sword stroke down” that particularly grabbed the firebender’s attention. The stroke didn’t seem too hard (although she had only caught a glimpse of it) and she may be able to get it right pretty soon. So, gripping the heavy sword as best she could, Chiye raised the blade and slashed across the air. The sound wasn’t exactly perfect. Actually, the low, dull whoosh sounded like she’d only be able to cut through a cloud of dust.

The amber eyes shifted to those of the older man with a look that expressed her confusion. Piandao seemed to understand. He gripped the firebender’s hand that held the sword and, also managing to move her feet in the right direction, moved her body in the way that it was supposed to move. Alright, so it was a little more than embarrassing. First, because she was more used to drill sergeants barking out orders, and second, because she felt like a little girl who was being taught how to dance by standing atop her father’s feet. It had to be the height difference. Damn her short stature.

"Auka is good with this strike but if you don't want to ask for his help I'll understand."

“I can get it on my own,” she retorted with just a hint of indignation.

It was more than her not wanting to ask for help. The very thought of getting help from the waterbender made her sick with annoyance. She could imagine it already: constant phrases like “No, Kitten, this is how you do it” or “Try again, Kitten, and let’s see some more movement” followed by a cheesy water-related pun was enough to make her teeth gnash.

"I don't suppose you have a way to train me as we walk, Sifu Chiye?"

Again, with the annoying names! And Piandao should’ve known better too. At least she could hold fan-training hostage until he abided by the rules.

“Not if you keep calling me ‘Sifu Chiye’,” she said flatly. But in reality, she wanted to continue trying to get that sword stroke down. It may not be the fairest exchange for Piandao to teach and then for Chiye to refuse teaching until she was ready, but she figured that the men could trade sword handling tips for a while. If the firebender had heard correctly, after all, Piandao was badly in need of water and was aching to teach Auka.

Chiye walked a few steps ahead of the other two as they walked across the soft grass path and readied the practice sword for another stroke. Pushing her foot forward, keeping her wrist tight, she slashed through the air gracefully, but unsuccessfully. The dull whoosh of lazy air rang in her ears like death bells. But again, she raised the sword. Again, an unsuccessful endeavor. Thrice more the firebender tried and failed as she concentrated solely on the blade. If this went on much longer, she really would have to ask Auka for help.

Chiye pulled the blade across the air even more forcefully.

OOC: Sorry I didn't see your guys posts (if thats the right way to put it), until just recently, sorry i took ages to post.

IC: Oyushi sighed as he laid back on the rock bed. It felt so good. The girl was rambling on about something in the background, like an annoying chattering monkey… who climbs trees in the summer and thinks itself tall. His brow furrowed for a second. That had been in a poem somewhere, he remembered reading it, but he couldn’t quite place it. Never the less, like he was trying to point out, the girl, Eun, was beginning to fray his nerves, already. But he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to help out someone in need.

He tried to put his finger on what it was that annoyed him about her. Was it that she wasn’t entirely trustworthy, that she lied and he wasn’t sure if he could believe what she said or not? He didn’t think so. He also didn’t think that it was the fact that she talked a lot, that didn’t bother him in other people. Could it have been that she was always trying to be suggestive and sway people or get them to react? No, Oyushi just found that a little childish… Ah the irony.

Suddenly she made a noise of a happy sight, and the boy peeked out of one eye to see what had excited her. A small clump of red flowers. Great! Then it twigged for him what annoyed him about her. She was always so perky, and upbeat and happy all of the time, and while a positive attitude can be nice, to have it all of the time it just down right aggravating. Plus, it is a teenager’s right to be moody and glum sometimes and Oyushi got the feeling that he wouldn’t be able to go into moody, quiet, brooding mode with her around.

He closed his eyes again and was ready to drift off into a short rest, which he believed that he deserved given that he was still a bit hazy from the alcohol and had just been in two fights. But of course, Eun had to bring something up… In a perky voice. She asked where Kyuru was and Oyushi’s eyebrows raised. He wasn’t there.
“He wasn’t behind m- ,”
He began to say but she was already heading off in a different direction, obviously going to find him.

He went to lie back down but knew he was conflicted. There was a mad earth bender out there and Kyuru wasn’t as ‘well defended’ as Oyushi was, he could well be hurt, but on the other hand, he was a big boy, he knew what he was doing and last Oyushi knew the bartender had been chasing him instead of Kyuru. Plus, perky-britches was going to look for him anyway. He’d just settle down for a nice little nap. He rolled over and his grip on consciousness loosened as he began to drift towards never never land.

A half day dream formed in his head, he was back home and his mother and his father welcomed him back and were so understanding of why he had left, in fact they applauded him for having the courage to do what he believed in. His mother had made some of he famous cup cakes, a whole batch in fact, just for Oyushi’s arrival, and he tucked into them whole-heartedly. Suddenly there was a scream though, piercing the air, the village must have been under attack and there was a screaming villager outside. But then he awoke, to the sound of the dying scream. He groaned, it sounded like Eun, so he had better get up. Even though it was probably just her getting over excited about another flower.

He raised himself off of the temporary bed and ran out into the bush after her, tracking towards the sound of the scream. He didn’t travel very far through the rough scratching undergrowth before he reached her. Standing paralysed, looking at something just outside his field of vision, blocked by a tree. He slowed down and walked the last couple of steps around the tree trunk looking across at the-
It was Kyuru.
Lying against another tree, looking dead.

He saw the blood trickling from some unseen wound and gasped running up to him, and shaking him lightly,
“Eun quickly get some rags from camp and a water skin, Hurry! Kyuru, can you hear me?”
He asked hopefully.

Kyuru had been taking a little half-nap when he heard footsteps. He debated about opening his eyes, but it was probably his imagination anyway. So he settled back on the bark of the tree –wincing in pain when his wounds touched the not-very soft surface—and closed his eyes once more.

Hmm, hmm, hmm… he thought to himself, thinking about his companions. Perhaps they were worried. Then again, maybe they weren’t. Maybe they were dancing in circles, celebrating his lack of a sense of direction. Huh.

The footsteps got louder, but still, Kyuru stayed put. Better to let his wounds clot up than move quickly and break the thin scabs that were growing. He could feel some blood trickling down his back, and he closed his eyes tighter. It felt weird, the blood flowing on his bare skin. It had been a while since he’d gotten this badly hurt…

His thoughts were interrupted by a shrill scream, and he shot up like an arrow, his eyes flying open. “What the…” he managed to get out before he realized that he was still perched on that damnable branch. Naturally, his balance was upset, and he fell, cursing all the way.

He stayed on the ground, thanking the spirits that the pain was so great that it muffled the woman’s –Eun, he now realized—shriek. He mumbled nonsensical words mixed with colorful language, all muffled by the dirt in his mouth. The only good thing about this situation was that he had landed on his stomach. At least his back wouldn’t get infected, not yet, at least.

Kyuru winced in pain when Oyushi shook him by his shoulders. “Ah,” he moaned, “I can hear you just fine.” He whispered this, from both the filth in his mouth and the pain in his trachea. He spat out some dirt, licking his lips with what felt like a slab of stone. “Anyone got water?” he said, quietly and hopefully. Kyuru sat up carefully, reaching a tentative hand behind him to feel the wound. As he had suspected, the tentative skin cells that had started to stop the wound had been ripped off by the force of his fall. In other words, the strain of falling had caused the wound to start bleeding again.

He rubbed his temples, and then his ears. Great Spirits, that girl had a set of lungs! There was no doubt that she could scream. Probably everyone in a 3 mile radius had heard her…