Hanabi stroked her chin in deep thought to the question, but her answer she knew was simple enough, yet complex. Hanabi had an almost Feral grin.

"Well, I started my life learning from my father in the west, but before I could ever have a home I mistook his criminal twin brother, my uncle for my father while I was training and he abducted me." She smiled as she started thinking back on her early life when, Zhifu, her father by birth right had raised her and taught her how to bend, tell she was seven, then her uncle had flown into her life swooping her away from the pastoral fields of the fire nations lushest retirement spot where her father had lived.

"I traveled with him and he taught me to fight while fleeing with me southwards heading along the coasts of the Earth Kingdom, I don't remember how long it lasted, but the sun rose and set many times, not once however without training." Her eyes flickered in the flame as she remembered the hellish training, how she had resented him tell he had saved her life and she learned that he had truly cared for her, her uncle Goh'Zhan whom she honored as a father.

"We eventually hit the coast and took a ship, it sailed southwards tell we marooned at the base of the Abandoned Southern Air Temple. I lived the majority of my life there, training with my Second Father, and practicing what my First Father taught me, never giving up, always practicing, always fighting in some way or another." She smiled grabbing a rock in her palm, tossing it hand to hand setting it at the edge of the fire, "The training was the most brutal in the world, my Second Father was kind, yet cruel, his lessons stressed the limit of my body and every night I would nurse bruises, cuts, wounds, broken bones. Yet not once would I ever be allowed to give up, every dawn I would awake anew, and again learn."

"I learned how to climb there, the place said to be impossible to climb, after a while I trained on climbing, solidly, scaling cliff faces flat and jagged, waterfalls that had to be traversed horizontally, and years passed learning how to climb it, when I was about to reach the top however I plummeted downwards, breaking my left arm when I crashed over a hundred feet into water that was only a few feet too shallow. I had to learn to bear pain and swim up, or drown in pain on the bottom of a shallow lake." She smiled remembering those days, how simple it was, how easy it was then, it had been just her and the mountain, both unwilling to budge.

"It all changed when my Second father, Goh'Zhan saw a ship in the distance, and I was forced to give up on a reattempt to climb to the Summit of the Abandoned Temple. We set sail again back towards the earth kingdom where we fled into the desert, to a town that both Fathers knew well." Hanabi paused thinking about it, "My second father had ruined my first fathers life, and same other way around, because my first father Zhifu was responsible for his brother Goh'Zhan being imprisoned and loosing close to thirty too fifty years of his life." Hanabi frowned, "Had I been stronger I could have probably stopped the turn of events that led them towards the end."

Hanabi frowned, "When they finally met, I was asleep, still recovering from my broken arm and totally unconscious, they fought over my head for... I dunno how long, a while I'd wager considering the two, but when I came up, my birth father, Zhifu saw me for the first time in years, but it had come at the wrong time, in the middle when he and Goh'Zhan where attacking each other." Hanabi's expression was rather somber and she continued to speak, "Goh'Zhan's blade stabbed into Zhifu, and I could only watch him find relief in his face that I was okay, that I was alive, even as he died. I not able to cope with it, fled like an idiot into the desert unprepared, I was trained for a lush mountain, not a Barron desert."

Hanabi looked thoughtful yet again, "At the same time, an assassin had come, I know not why myself, probably revenge for something that Goh'Zhan and Zhifu had done when they where younger. I wandered until, in a cave I laid on my back exhausted from the heat considering what I was going too do to escape the madness, when the said assassin found me, being trained as I was, I was able to defend myself to a degree, but exhausted and fighting an enemy with a poisoned blade, I had little match. That part to me is mostly a blur, but Goh'Zhan saved me, injured as he was from fighting his brother, and selflessly throwing his own life away to defend me, blocking a strike that would have killed me when the mad assassin stabbed at me, he impaled Goh'Zhan through the heart, and the edge of the assassin's blade raked my left eye light as a tiny cat scratch."

Hanabi's eyes where no longer on Haru, but the fire, "I was going to kill the assassin, I had every intent to do so, but Goh'Zhan threw me back not wanting me to become a killer, and even as he died, even as his last breath fled him, he slew the assassin and himself died. Leaving me orphaned."

Hanabi's flexed her arm, "I was still in a desperate shape, and passed out, but a Sandbender who called himself by the title 'Dune Hunter' found me, extracted the poison from my eye while I slept allowing my left eye, despite it's appearance to still work to a small degree. When I awoke he helped my bury my fathers and at there graves I mourned for a small while, but the Dune Hunter said to pass my own life away on grieving for the fallen would dishonor the fact that they died for me. the Dune Hunter taught me how to tell what is poisonous and not, how to find and make water where there is none, with only a water resistant peace of fabric and a bowl, how on the sea to get myself pure water without having to light my boat on fire. Then one day like the wind, I woke up and he had gone, just as he had come, without announcement."

"I not knowing much decided to retrace my journey and sailed back to the base of the abandoned Southern Air Temple, and scaled up, day in and day out, nothing but climbing, lodging myself at awkward angles to sleep, and climbing when I awoke, until I arrived at the Summit, the first person to have made the climb into the air temple without the use of a flying device or air bending. All I found where bones, and the signs of battle, and a box of trinkets, given to whoever buried the bones of the monk who had owned them in life. I at the time didn't think much of trinkets, but, I buried the monks bones, understanding the painful cost of war, and being left out for all time. I took the box, and with nothing left there, I began my arduous climb downwards. Towards my tiny two man ship." She smiled leaning back looking at the sky, laying on her back as she remembered the beautiful and solitary climb up and down the air temple, and the eerie feeling akin to having the eyes of ghosts on you.

"I'm no sailor, but I knew enough to get a ship into water, and how to get it going a general direction, and I sailed back towards the mainland, or what I thought was the mainland, and crashed on the shore of some islands, destroying my shoddy, time eaten ship. There I met a stranger who helped me for a time, never saying his name, leading me northwards away from the islands setting me north again, I had came and went from Kyoshi Island, in less then two days, and I wandered again through the desert of my fathers' demise, and kept going until I reached another port, and another, and Finally arrived in the Fire Nation." Hanabi looked ponderous now as she sat looking at the fire, she after a moment smiled and started to laugh.

"There I met a couple of oddballs, I don't remember there names, but I remember my barbaric nature, bad manners and violent fighting style put the guards on edge and made one of them cry, I 'practiced' too hard, to seriously, despite being my age they... lacked my training, but somehow we stuck together. I made some good money in a few illicit bets and bought a new ship, and crew, and cannons, and ammo. This time deciding if I was going to have a ship I didn't know how to use, that I was going to have a crew who could use it for me." Hanabi sounded proud of herself as she said this, leaning forward. "Sucks for me though, I got washed off of the ship when I was sailing back towards mainland, and I got washed down the streams, until you found me. So my ship is probably somewhere out there, somewhere. if it didn't get destroyed in the storm."

Hanabi pointed at Haru, "If not for you I might have drown in the river, or got washed into a Dam and crushed." Hanabi smiled at Haru, grabbing her meat which was now done perfectly off of the fire crushing some garlic over it, biting into it like a Barbarian, "Where do I come from? I come from the road traveled by warriors, I come from the raising of two fathers, I come from the Summit of the air temple with the blessing of dead monks, I come from the sea down the river ways. I believe I have answered your question."

Hanabi held the whole dead and cooked animal in one hand taking a humongous bite out of it, chewing loudly, grease dripping from the meat down her chin and hands as she gnawed on it, "Sho- 'ere 'o you, 'ome from?" she asked, speaking with her mouth full. A bit curious as to Haru's story, this meal tasting so good to her.

Haru smiled as he grabbed his dinner off of the fire, crushing garlic as Hanabi had done and ripping into it with his teeth. He'd thought that squirrelrabbits had tougher skin, but the charred flesh gave way easily. The savory flavor of roasted meat and garlic flooded his mouth and he felt a bliss that he'd not felt for a while. The training, the Fire Nation, none of it meant anything right now. All that mattered was that he was here doing what he was doing.

"Me? Well, my village is one of the biggest coal mining villages in the Earth Kingdom. We have about twenty mines and Earthbenders come from as far as Ba Sing Se to work as miners and put their talents to good use," he said, taking another bite of meat and chewing carefully before continuing.

"About two years ago, the Fire Nation began to set their sights on our village because we produced the main source of fuel for their war machines. Unfortunately, that meant they set up an occupation and began to mine. They knew that they wouldn't be able to take over the town as long as there were so many Earthbenders, so they began taking them and putting them on a metal barge out at sea so they couldn't bend. Without the Earthbenders, our village fell to the Fire Nation." No matter how many years it had been, his voice always became heavy before recounting this part of the story to anyone.

"My mom managed to hide my bending from the Fire Nation soldiers until I got caught for helping an old man who'd gotten caught in a rockslide. Before I was captured, I met the Avatar and two friends of his outside the city. He found out what had happened and snuck aboard the barge, and he was the one who helped the Earthbenders fight back. My father and I led an escape from the ship and ended up driving them out of our village. They haven't been back since, but I heard they were raiding other coal mining towns in the Earth Kingdom." He always told this part with a sort of wonderment in his voice, mostly because he'd been fortunate enough to meet the Avatar...and Katara. If anything, it had been her who'd helped them regain their fighting spirit. He didn't think he'd ever be able to repay the debt he owed her or the Avatar, but he hoped he could do all he could to aid their war effort. After all, it would mean that he'd get to show the Fire Nation how it felt.

"So, that's pretty much where I'm from. I meant to tell you earlier, but I figured that you didn't need to hear me bad-mouthing the Fire Nation for ten minutes," he said with a chuckle, and resumed eating.

Hanabi frowned at Haru as she listened to his story, she herself was loyal to the Fire Nation, and now she knew she should not bend where Haru might see her. "Bending is a gift, a dangerous one. In war an occupying force seeks to disarm the enemy, you are lucky your occupiers did not decide to kill benders." she knew occupation was tough, but she was vary loyal.

"I have never had much militaristic time myself, I fight, I climb, survive, get stronger. But I have yet to have a cause, I'd like to think I'd defend the people I cared for, but they died, and I'd like to think I'd defend the innocent, but I'm not that altruistic. I fight because I love to fight, If I fight for the innocent it's because there enemy is strong, and I fight. If I defend the people I care for, it's because I want the fight. To the depths of a cold abyss with glory, I just like the fight." Hanabi was animated as she spoke, totally honest.

"I wonder, do you fight, and what do you fight for Haru?" She paused after asking the question, and smiled, "You're just traveling now, you really have no enemy focus, so you move situation to situation seeking to get stronger tell something happens worth participating in." She had answered her own question in a stated guess.

Hanabi reached her hand into the fire grabbing out some more meat pulling it to her lips digging in chomping down on the small morsel's of meat on the toasted bones.

"So, better question, what's the current state of the world? I've been a bit out of the loop and I like to get an Unbiased angle by listening to everyone who has an opinion when I can." Hanabi was smiling keenly now, she was going to play a bit and figure out how Haru's mind worked.

Haru took another bite and chewed thoughtfully before forming an answer in his head.

"Well, from my understanding, the Fire Nation is trying to take over the world," he said with his mouth partially full. He swallowed, took another bite and made sure it was finished before he continued.

"I guess it would be different if I was from the Fire Nation, but that's not the way things worked out. The last I heard, they took over Omashu ." He said these words with a sad sort of tone, mostly because if the Fire Nation could take over Earth Kingdom strongholds such as that city, war efforts were hopeless. He remembered the day someone came running through his village yelling "Omashu has fallen! Omashu has fallen!" It had been a sad day for everyone, especially his father. He recalled how Tyro had been so close to seeking out a resistance movement in Omashu and joining it. It was all Haru could do to keep from using Earthbending to keep Tyro from running off, but a few well-chosen words had worked just as well.

"I've heard that the Fire Lord's daughter has singlehandedly done what no other Fire Nation commander has done," he remarked, excusing himself to go fill up his water skin at the river. When he returned, he took a long drink before continuing.

"Hey, I have an idea. I've heard rumors that the Fire Nation has infiltrated Ba Sing Se, and I wanted to see if they were true. Did you want to go with me after we're done at Gaoling?" he asked. If the rumors were true, he just might be able to do something about the war after all. With rumors of the city's fall came rumors of an underground resistance movement, something he'd be more than happy to join should the occasion arise. Until then, he needed to keep his thoughts centered around Gaoling and Earth Rumble VII. He needed to work his hardest over the next few days if he was even going to have a chance in the tournament.

Hanabi looked at Haru and nodded, "I have no plans to 'Stop' in Gaoling, in fact, I intend not to stop traveling." she said to him.

"When I was a young girl I had entered Ba Sing Se for a short time, long before now, and I was attacked by some thugs, 'tis where I got the scar on my hand, I blocked a knife open palmed, then my uncle had single handedly slain most of the thugs without breaking stride, the rest fleeing like cowards into the night, he had taken my hand and pressed the wound closed burning it shut." she flexed her right hand turning it over a couple of times so that Haru could see the ripped and jagged knife and burn scar.

"I'm curious to see if the slums are still as vicious as when I was eight." Hanabi's heart leaped at the thought, her pumping her scared hand into a fist smashing it into the fire smashing in half a mostly degraded burning log, the punch fast enough that she didn't get any burns in recourse.

Hanabi stood running to the river dipping her hands into the water rubbing them together, the grease from the meal washing downstream, her eyes turning looking keenly around, "Perhaps we should make some distance towards Gaoling!" She shouted lowly, but loud enough for Haru to hear, returning to the campfire sitting down next to him.

Hanabi had clenched her fist, she started punching the ground repeatedly in front of her making sure her punches maintained proper speed, angle, force and turn not to be able to be turned against herself, the noise of her fist meeting the dirt with force was one as the sound of stones hitting the earth.

"I wonder if I'll have the ability to enter a free for all tournament, or if I run into a Firebending Officer if he'd accept a challenge to Agni Kai; Agni Kai, a great method of appealing to a Firebenders honor, challenging them to an honorable, face to face fight, to refuse means they look down on you, or think they are to weak to beat you. Remember that Haru, but be wary, some Firebenders think only Firebenders can perform in Agni Kai, and to an extent they are right, the rules of Agni Kai are 'Firebending and Fists allowed, No weapons.' If they are honorable they may let the Firebending extend to Earthbending as well, It's a reason why your Unarmed fighting should be strong if you plan to fight the Fire Nation." Hanabi's eyes scanned the Fire, "That same sense of shrewd honor, also gives power to a lot of Firebenders, and even in loss if a deal is made over it, they will keep it if they have honor."

Haru became interested when he heard her plans. He thought they'd be sticking together after Earth Rumble, but apparently, that wasn't the plan. He shrugged it off, chalking it up to her wanderlust rather than himself.

"I've never been to Ba Sing Se, so I couldn't tell you," he said, gnawing the last few pieces of meat from the bones and setting it on the ground, pouring the rest of the water from his water skin over his hands. He dried them on his pants, a habit that his mother frowned upon. He figured clothing could serve as well as anything to dry yourself with.

His ears pricked up when he heard her suggestion about moving towards Gaoling. He'd have thought that he had no energy, but all it had taken was a small meal to give him back most of the energy he'd lost during training. He smiled, realizing how content he was and how glad, at that, that he'd worked so hard, even while traveling. Work in the coal mines had been light for the last few months, but it had been just enough to keep him occupied when he was bored.

"Wow. It sounds like honor is extremely important to the Fire Nation," he said, musing aloud over her description of an "Agni Kai." Funny, but her words shed a little bit of a new light on the Fire Nation. Perhaps most people from there were really peaceful; maybe it was just the Fire Lord and the soldiers and benders under his command that were the real evil. Come to think of it, he wouldn't attack just any person from the Fire Nation; he would only attack a soldier/bender and then only if they attacked first. This was war, but there was still honor in it.

"I think we should get moving, then, if we're going to make it to Gaoling in time for the Earth Rumble," he said, gathering his things in his bag that he'd almost forgotten he had. He could feel the weight of the bands around his ankles, but it was barely noticeable. If he became too used to them, he might have to up the weight, but they would prove to be useful in the Rumble. After all, what Earthbender wouldn't be surprised at rock flying at them when they thought there would be none? He would, and he figured that everyone else would be as well.

Hanabi smiled, "Glad I finally got a companion to drag with me, I plan to see the entire world several times over. I even plan to be the 'First' person to scale all of the air temples without flying or some mechanical device." The sounded exited standing looking around remembering which way was the correct way to head.

"We should take a better route to Gaoling." She pointed at the river, "We are going to walk to Gaoling, 'Against the flow of the River'." Hanabi grinned at the prospect, "And put some more weight on your ankles, your supposed to start out feeling like you can't run ten steps in weights." Hanabi gestured at his ankles.

Hanabi sprang forward to the river spinning around as she leaped into the waist deep part of the heavy current, turning towards the direction Haru said Gaoling was in, "Then let's make some tracks, and train while walking, This river leads the same general direction as Gaoling, and if what you said is true it should only put a few extra hours on our walk, lets push ourselves and traverse up the river fast enough to make up for the slight delay off of a straight walk."

Hanabi without another word started to walk up the river pushing her way into and against the current, her going deeper in tell the was shoulder deep in water heading up the stream, she herself had training weights on that she never took off for anything, even swimming, but the problem was, they had been on her so long she didn't even feel them anymore.

The current also seemed to get harder as one went up stream. a lot harder.

Haru both sighed and chuckled at the same time; she couldn't have made it any easier, could she? He jumped up, burying his feet and weights in the ground when he landed. He took two steps like he was walking and came back up with two weights around his ankles that weighed twice as much as the ones he'd had on before. This time, instead of bands around his ankles, he had cuffs that spanned from his ankle up to his knee. It looked like the young Earthbender was trying to make some sort of weird, new fashion statement, but he wasn't. If it had been up to Haru, he wouldn't have the weights on at all.

He jumped into the water without hesitation, mostly because he didn't mind the cool water. With the onset of night, it became colder, but it didn't really matter to him. Slowly, he waded to the middle, where the water came up to the middle of his chest, realizing that he might as well have weights on his arms too. He walked over to the bank and pounded his fists, melting them into the earth and coming out with two ten pound bracers made of rock. His hands were weighed down at first, but he got used to it and struggled to fight the current.

"So, where were you planning on heading after Gaoling?" he asked, raising his voice to above the dull roar of the water. Perhaps this girl didn't take honor as seriously as the Fire Nation did, but he figured she'd be sticking around because of the whole "life debt" thing. The real reason, however, was that he'd grown attached to the little girl who'd shown him so much. Although it seemed like he despised her for putting her through hell and high water, he really was grateful for the things she was teaching him. He smiled as he realized that the weights would be a good tool in combat, for they could serve as both weapons and armor. He was learning new things, even when she wasn't blatantly teaching.

He shook his head, realizing that this girl was much too serious to see this whole situation in the same light he did; she seemed more adventurous and well-versed than he, but that did little to intimidate him. In fact, it drew him closer, like an insect to a flame. Still, he needed to keep everything in perspective.

Hanabi trudged up the waterfall, her tanned and toned skin shining with the glisten of water as she put one foot in front of the other, occasionally swimming where it got to deep, rolling with the current only to bound ahead, "After Gaoling, Probably the same as you, Ba Sing Se." she stated as the current forced over her.

Hanabi had been pondering herself why she was following around Haru, but she was, and she did plan on paying him back, she figured she might as well, having an unpaid life debt was a good way to have a bad time, "After Ba Sing Se, wanna come with me on my trek around the world? I wanna see everywhere."

The dawning of night meant that the river was going to get colder, and with it, it would make things harder for Haru, she herself could quietly warm her core temperature but, Earthbending was miserable for that sort of thing. "If you think your gonna get Hypothermia as we travel, we can get off the stream and I can make you a fire and you can warm up, freezing to death is hardly training." She herself wasn't cold at all, and the rivers waters weren't too cold yet, after the hot day, Haru might even like this she mused.

Haru sighed. The young Earthbender wanted to see the entire world too, but he feared that couldn't happen until the Fire Lord was defeated. When the soil of the Fire Nation was safe to step on again, then and only then would he fearlessly travel the Four Nations, seeing everything and becoming versed in the ways of the world. There were some things that even bending Masters could teach, only going out into the world and experiencing it first hand could. Maybe then he could truly be an Earthbending Master; when he could practice his bending without restraint that he could truly understand the meaning of his connection with the energy brimming from the ground below him.

He felt strangely content, fighting the current and musing on life. The force that he was fighting against was manifesting its invisible energy as water splashing up and occasionally hitting him in the face. When that happened, he would wipe the water off with an even wetter hand, getting the water out of his eyes so he could keep them on their destination.

"Maybe one day, when the war is over, yes," he said, catching up to the sprightly youth yet again.

"For now, it's unsafe to go anywhere because of the war, but that means we could see the Fire Nation and finally be in the heart of the very place that caused it!" His jade eyes gleamed with wonderment, mostly at how well he'd articulated his thoughts. His voice reflected this and for a moment, he held a child-like wonder of the world around them. It had only been two weeks since he'd left his village to brave the elements in the wild that he'd truly gained an appreciation for everything he'd had. Living on his own, though, had been freeing in a way. He'd even learned some new techniques from someone he'd never have expected to happen to him. Little by little, his life was changing again, and he was loving every second of it.

"I think I'd like to see the Air Temples. I think I'd have an easier time with that than most people, I guess, but I figure that's only because we can root ourselves into the very earth the Temples are made of and climb," he mused, trudging ahead towards their goal.

Hanabi shook her head, "Wait until the war is over? tell everything is safe?... Peace is for Children and Old Men." she said to him, "Part of fun is danger, Kill or be Killed, it's all just a way to kill time tell time kills you, comes to mind, the words of my uncle. Granted I see a bit more worth in the lives of others then he did, but if the war has gone on for the past ohh... hundred or so years. Why should I wait tell the world is safe to travel?"

Hanabi had a glint in her eye as they reached a small waterfall her walking to it feeling beneath the foamy tide pounding downwards, it was about twenty feet high, Hanabi felt the stones on the other side grabbing on, her feeling the slight slickness of the stone, she closed her eyes, exhailing a breath stepping under the heavy downpour grabbing the outcropping pulling herself up with one arm heavily against the pounding downpour, her feeling around the fall for another rock, not finding one she pulled herself up standing on one foot on the cropping, springing upward catching another outcropping, even under the force of the water, pulling herself up again with one hand, moving and grabbing stone under the fall after stone tell she reached the top.

Hanabi turned looking down gesturing for Haru to come up, "You got the earth, you don't have to climb, launch yourself up to me with the earth under your feet, think war catapult style!" she shouted down, loud enough to pierce the small falls booming voice.

Hanabi walked over to a rock sticking out of the water sitting down on it waiting for Haru, "Haru, I'm going to pay you back by dragging you around the world, to hell with the war, to hell with restrictions and borders, I will help you master Earthbending, and I will master Firebending, you will see the world and perhaps learn the truth, the conflict on a deeper level then man on man, mechanical device versus stone and ice, perhaps you will see it as I do one day." she thought to herself closing her eyes listening to the sound of the booming waves.

Haru stopped at the bottom of the waterfall. Just beneath the smothering energy of the water, he found an even stronger source of earth energy below it. Drawing it in through his legs, he flew through the air with the ease and grace of a seasoned dancer, letting his legs only be free from the ground for the duration of his jump.

He landed just as gracefully, his breath coming in deep gulps.

"I guess you're right," he said amid the gasps for breath.

"If the war's gone on this long, I don't see it ending any time soon," he added, resuming his struggle against the river. Hanabi was right; why wait until the world was safe to travel? Wasn't the point of going out into the world facing it and all of its dangers? After all, travel wouldn't be any fun without danger; as a matter of fact, it would be quite boring. How would he learn to master Earthbending if he didn't have a use for it?

"You know what? I think I will join you in your quest around the world after Ba Sing Se." With his mind made up, a smile lit the young Earthbender's face as he continued to walk towards Gaoling. As he did, hundreds of rumors began to resurface from the dark pool of his memory; the Spirit Library, the Air Temples...they all had one thing in common: they were only spoken of in rumor. Most of them were dismissed as rumor, but only a few stuck around long enough to become legend. He'd heard whispers of the Spirit Library on an outing to Mount Makapu from a man who'd had far too much to drink.

"Have you heard of the Spirit Library?" he asked, the words slipping unbidden out of his mouth. Perhaps she would have some information that would substantiate the rumors and make them something more real. After all, from what the drunkard was saying, it was a place that held archaic knowledge and who knew? It might just hold some arcane secrets about Earthbending that no one had seen in thousands of years.

It was then that his mind drifted to the lore of the Earthbenders. He'd learned from his father long ago that the people of the Earth Kingdom had learned the art of Earthbending from the badgermoles that inhabited the mountains. His head began churning as he realized that if he wanted to truly master his bending, he'd have to go directly to the source.

Hanabi as the both of them walked up the current nodded to Haru, "Yeah, the Dune Hunter said it was in the deserts somewhere, I myself have never seen it, but everyone whom I respect says it exists." she said to him, the idea of going to the Spirit Library seemed like a great idea to her, "I have often wondered what old tomes may rest in those hallowed halls, what secrets to my path of life lay for the reading."

"Our world is beautiful, the day, the night, the pitch black, the four nations, and all forms of bending, martial art, and dance and song. I'd never be content not to see it all. Ironic of all, when I used to be a seven and onward training at the air temple, I kept wishing I where an Airbender, graceful, able to soar the heavens free. My uncle thought it was a hopeless ideal, but even if I can never be an Airbender, I can still learn from there history. I learned how to properly approach a wall at a dead run to get up about ten feet without bending. The scroll in the temple said after that to form an Airball under your body, and when it started calling for Airbending I couldn't learn much more, but it helps my climbing a lot."

Hanabi thought a second, "Now that I think about it, from studying other bending styles, one can learn a lot more about there own element, a Firebending Style I know well about called the Quivering Flame uses a lot of Earthbending principle in it too increase it's power." She didn't overtly say she was a Firebender, but she didn't lie either, she wanted to study every bending style she could, as deep as she could, as a Firebender she was a bender, and there was no reason she couldn't use the movements from other bending styles to manipulate fire, that or just make her a more fearsome close combatant.

Hanabi had a grin on her face as she had said this pushing her way along the vary hard almost neck deep water that was rushing against her body, her wet hair looking black in the night, her vision was not diminished, her scarred eye had a hard time adapting to light and was stuck sense it's poisoning in a state where the eye was in a constant state of being synced to the dark, in the day her vision in that eye was somewhat hazy, but easy enough to follow, but at night her eye saw everything more clearly, as if her eye had never seen the light of day and had got used to seeing in the dark. Hanabi grinned seeing the black form of a fish in the water, she figured she'd surprise Haru and batted it out of the water at Haru's face to see how he'd react to a fish toss.

Haru thought about her words, but was interrupted by a wiggling, slippery mass hitting him in the face. He was surprised at first, but chuckled as he wiped more water off of his face and kept walking.

Of all the other bending styles, Earthbending seemed similiar to Waterbending, at least from what he knew and what he'd seen of both styles. Some Earthbenders, he noticed, used a harder, more solid style. They usually came from further west, as far out as Ba Sing Se. He figured he'd get to see many different styles of bending on his travels.

"You know, now that you've mentioned Sandbending, I think I'd like to learn how to do that. Ultimately, I'd like to learn how to bend metal, but that's impossible for any Earthbender," he said, digging his feet a little further into the ground. He'd heard tales of the Sandbenders, a nomadic tribe of Earthbenders that lived in the eastern deserts. If there were any other way to come closer to Airbending, he hadn't heard of it. After all, Sandbending was just an offshoot of Earthbending, but he'd never actually seen it done. He'd been making plans to venture into the desert to seek out these tribes and ask them if they'd enlighten him in the ways of Sandbending.

"I don't think I've ever tried using other bending styles," he spluttered as water splashed into his mouth. He spit it out and kept walking, feeling the weight of the bracers and cuffs he'd put on earlier but not really feeling it at the same time.

"Do you really think Firebending could be useful in Earthbending?" he asked, catching up with her again and maintaining his stride. He didn't think so, mostly because all of the Firebending he'd seen in his life was being used to set things aflame and instill fear into the hearts of others. He despised Firebenders that used their skills this way, but he'd have yet to be proven wrong.

That got him thinking about disciplines of other bending styles. He'd never met a Master of any of the bending arts, but he was pretty sure that water, air and fire were the only things that other benders could bend, but he didn't know. He figured that a trip around the world would give him the opportunity to meet people who'd mastered different bending disciplines.

Hanabi looked thoughtful at the ear full that Haru had given her as she waded upstream cutting the water with fluid motion and movement, "It's not exactly the same, but it has it's uses, Firebending Basic; A style that utilizes a strong stance, evasive side steps and quick moderate strength attacks and a good defense, Earth is Strong, Water is Fluid, Air is Evasive, Fire is Balanced, the stances in Firebending and the Breath focus skill and passion forging them into a deadly weapon, little thought about, Firebenders are also passionate craftsmen and creative fighters, often times adapting there Firebending to work with weapons." She said to him, "They are powerful, strong, passionate and loyal and patriotic, it's why despite the wrongness of this war, most Firebenders are loyal to the Fire Lord." She said, she knew a lot about it, her father and uncle had both been loyal to the Fire Nation, and she herself was as well.

"As far as Earthbending goes you got to remember this proverb, if you chase two Rabbitsquirrels you will lose them both. Sandbending is obscure and requires decades of training to be as useful as conventional Earthbending or even a feasible technique outside of the deserts." She knew what she was talking about, she herself was a totally dedicated martial artist and bender, advanced in her skill, but she abandoned all social trade, all forms of life except training to get to where she was today.

"For someone like you, abandoning your life and freedom to solidly train to be a powerful bender could be a reckless and foolish mistake." she sounded sure of herself saying this, "In the end if all you chase is martial perfection, then it is all you will ever be good at, and if war comes to an end, then so too will your purpose, if you live solidly for training without application, you might as well die a child."

Hanabi walked out of the water's edge, the river if they where to continue to follow it, would have led them away from Gaoling, and this was where they needed to get out, and with the chill of the growing night, remaining next deep in cooling waters was a good way to get oneself hurt, it took a lot of training to not get sick from a night time run through a cold river, "We tread land from here, we should start a fire and dry our belongings so we don't get sick, I'll start us a fire and set up a place we can dry our belongings." she said walking over to a tree climbing up it breaking down a large branch, hauling it too a dry spot of land.

Hanabi stacked up stones around the wood making a stand they could hang there shirts on, she reached into her box taking out a small flint and tender, and with a single strike got massive sparks off of it, because she was actually bending, using the flint and tender to hide the fact she was bending, and got a roaring fire in no time. She then took and pressed the stones close to the fire pit removing her shirt, Hanabi placed the shirt over the stick raising it up and propping it high enough that her clothing wouldn't catch, but would dry quickly.

Underneath her shirt her chest was wrapped in modest white bandages over her light, super muscular frame, tightly around her bust also which was of modest, but not tiny size, her back had a few scars on it that where small, probably cuts from falls on rocks, and a large scar on her shoulder.

"If you don't at least get your shirt dry, the cold water clinging to your chest on your shirt will lower your core temperature causing hypothermia, and in some cases of less healthy people, make them deathly ill, with the up and coming rumble you need to be in top shape." she said to him leaning back watching her shirt slowly drying about ten feet over the fire pit.

Haru was more than happy to get out of the freezing water, feeling his wet clothes clinging to his body. Drawn by the glowing flame, he sat in front of it and removed his shirt, pounding his fist into the ground near the fire. A post of sorts jutted from the ground and he hung his wet shirt on it, exposing his bare skin to the night. It was pleasantly warm, so he didn't mind the lack of clothing.

"I guess you're right," was all he said in reply to Hanabi's words about Sandbending. If he were to start learning Sandbending, he wouldn't put any focus towards his Earthbending, and then he'd never be a Master. That wasn't something he wanted, but it had sounded like a good idea when he'd voiced it.

"How would you define someone who's a Master of bending?" he asked, making his thoughts vocal before thinking once again. Next to this younger girl who'd had more experience in her life than he'd had in his, he felt like an inexperienced child despite the fact that he was more than proficient with Earthbending. Was one a Master when they learned how to bend metal? Would one be a Master if they could decimate an entire mountain with little effort? It was hard to decide what constituted mastery of an element. Perhaps it was the ability to use bending without being connected to the Earth; he knew that he could muse over this question his entire life and never have an answer for it.

Then again, maybe he would find out the answer from the badgermoles. He needed to make it known to Hanabi that he wanted to seek them out after they went to Ba Sing Se, since there was no point in going to the desert anymore. If he was going to keep his attention focused on learning his Earthbending, he needed to go to a place that would serve that particular interest, and that place happened to be the mountains. Still, if he could manage it one day, he would at least like to learn about Sandbending. Even if he was never going to use it, it would still be good to know the principles of the discipline that he might be able to apply to his own bending. Other than that, his course seemed to be clear: Gaoling, Ba Sing Se, and then the mountains.

Hanabi paused stroking her chin at the question, she herself had not thought much about it, but she had a pretty good idea what she considered a master of bending.

"I guess a master bender by some is considered one of the finest in the world, to others the term is a relative, I myself know a lot about bending and think the term generally fits master when you achieve a level of greatness, I myself think that Master Bender means you are one of the most powerful benders in the world and is still getting better and growing as the world grows." She said, "My father and uncle where masters, and there clashes where so loud that they could wake up a town." She smiled to herself, "My mother was a Sandbender princess, well, not a sand bender, but a princess of a desert nomad tribe, it's where the natural bronze in my skin comes from, as well as my natural sense of direction."

Hanabi moved over to her shirt taking it, feeling it was now dry and smelling like campfire smoke, she grinned turning and unwrapping the bandages around her chest, hanging them up, she took a moment to shake her shirt a few times, before slinging it on. "After Ba Sing Se, I might head towards the Fire Nation and explore there, I'm a traveler and wish to see the entire world and I've wandered a lot here in the earth kingdom, so, I'm thinking I might explore the Northern Water Tribe, then the Fire Nation, then south and visiting the Southern Water Tribe, then heading north towards Kyoshi." She looked at Haru, "I know you're probably not fond of the idea of visiting the Fire Nation, but as a Civilian acting as a Tourist, it's a lot safer of a way to travel then most would think."

Haru sighed as she made her plans to go to the Fire Nation known. After all Fire Lord Ozai's soldiers had done to him, it would be all he could do not to be filled with loathing the whole time he was there.

"Actually, I was planning on going to the mountains," he said off-hand. He didn't know whether Hanabi would be to keen on separating, but there was nothing binding him to her, only her to him. If the decision had been his, he would have opted for another method of repayment, but that was unfortunately not how things had worked out. Still, maybe there was another way and who knew? She might want to come with him to the mountains.

Thoughts that he was being selfish started to creep into his mind. Was he actually being selfish, not wanting to go to with her on her journey around the world and instead, wanting to go to the mountains to learn Earthbending from the badgermoles? Perhaps. On the other hand, was wanting to expand one's own knowledge and skill selfish? If so, then every bender in the world was guilty of that crime.

At the same time, he was wondering what was going through her head as she walked beside him. She didn't seem like the kind of person she'd break in half for saying what he said, but he didn't know her that well, even after all that training. He certainly couldn't speak for her, no matter how hard he tried.

He started to think that maybe it wasn't even worth it, being dragged around the world by a girl he had at least 4 years on. He didn't even think he'd take her seriously for that reason alone, but there was something about her that demanded respect, especially when she constructed her brutal training course. He was even more surprised about how quick he'd been to do everything she asked, which brought more concerns to mind. Did he need to establish dominance in their relationship? Did he even have any?

It wasn't like it mattered. It seemed like she did it simply to better him as a fighter and bender, and maybe that was why he'd submitted so quickly; because on some subconscious level, he knew that too.