((*Whistlesnonchalantly*))

Blah blah blah town

Now, now, that shouldn’t have worked. Therein was the folly of the honor system. Not everyone abided by the code, and their code wasn’t the same as another’s code. A cheap shot like that was something other people expected, even prepared for, but the young Galgori were usually still wrapped up in the daily minutia of honor and self-sacrifice to realize the underhanded tactics that many slaves and benders used. Hence the phrase, ‘All’s fair in love and war.’

To a Galgori, that was a despicable phrase, and yet she was guilty of following that phrase. If her master saw her now; he wouldn’t be too proud. Then again, there wasn’t much to incite pride with her.

He had a strong grip, good. And his punch was strong too. Unfortunately, the lack of air didn’t help to cement that fact. With shriveled lungs, Jiao grabbed onto Nuan’s hand’s thumb, and yanked her arm loose. With trouble, she launched herself back, and then gasped to refill her empty lungs. Two deep breaths and she stopped panicking. He got lucky, no he had talent. He was skilled enough to be on his own, so why was he now leaching off of her.

“I must say,” festively began the teacher, “You’re doing a lot better than I expected.” She took a few steps backwards, and then eyed Shijin. “He’s not too shabby is he, still no Kenji. He wouldn’t have dropped his sword.”

The nimble huntress then moved her hands to the pads that garbed her forearms. Projectiles lined those things. Weapons that were meant to both harm and distract. “Clean yourself of, and grab your weapon,” instructed Jiao as she plucked two simple rectangular projectiles.

“Ready, set, go.”

In a breath, the lithe Galgori launched one shuriken at the man, grabbed her left thigh’s dagger, launched the right, and then replaced it with her right thigh’s dagger. She then charged forward and sliced diagonally with her right dagger, spun around and sliced across his chest with her left, and then finished with a kick from her right leg aimed at his right side’s ribs.

Random Town with the Hunt

[/center]
The young galgori allowed his sensei to escape his grasp for he didn't want her so close as much as she wanted him near her. Once she was away and he was pretty sure she wouldn't attack again he wiped his eyes clean to allow himself the gift of sight once more. His face was dirty sure, but at least he could see once again. He took a couple of breaths to recover from the attacks as he keeled down to take hold of his staff once more. He was a tad surprised to she her actually staying where she was rather than continuing, though her words quickly answered why. He smiled slightly when she complemented him about his skills, somewhat. Though his confusion was shown at the mention of this 'Kenji'

When the hunt's new leader addressed him Shijin just laughed from behind as he leaned against the building. Much to Nuan's surprise obviously since he seemed almost shocked to see him. Though one couldn't really blame him since the entire time he had been there Nuan's back was to him. In addition he was too busy concentrating sparring with the elder galgori. Though then again galgori should have been aware of their surroundings right? "True, but you gotta give him some credit for doing this well against you, sparring match or not," Shijin shrugged remembering through the three days with the younger galgori saying he was their to have Jiao as a sensei. At first he thought he sucked, since he was older than Kenji yet he needed a teacher still. Though now... now he was confused as to how someone with this level of training needed a teacher. Was galgori standards really that high?

“Clean yourself of, and grab your weapon, Ready, set, go.”

Nuan had long since done as he was told, though he made sure to get himself up from the ground. Just how much longer were they going to continue this slag? Hadn't he proved himself yet? Oh well just a while long he hoped was he watched the suriken come at him. Using his staff he deflected them with ease, though when Jiao was near the only thing he managed to do was mealy block the slash with his metal staff. It would have been smarter to move however his weariness was getting to him, and his movements were beginning to become sluggish.

That was when he noticed the kick coming at him, this time bringing his elbow to block the attack. Had be been more experienced he probably would have just grabbed the leg and attacked, though of course he was still learning. After th kick was delivered he grabbed the staff with both hands as he swung it upward before slashing the staff at her side.

[[ fail post sorry it's 4:30 in the morning for me >< ]][/blockquote]

((Yeah. It’s probably not best to post at that time.))

Of No Consequence place

The stings from the failed attacks were still present in her wrists. Metal against metal usually did that. Thankfully, her kick made contact, with his elbow, but it was still a blow. However, at the sight of the metal staff that thought changed. It may have been an intended trick to force her to get hit by his attack. Then again, Nuan was young, maybe he just got hit because of his exhaustion. That was probably the most likely culprit behind it. Still, she couldn’t just take the hit.

With ease, the gray eyed huntress pivoted on her right foot and avoided the uppercut like slash from Nuan’s attack. Then it swung back down at her, at her side to be more precise. Here was her chance; it hadn’t been any easier since then. To lessen the strain from causing her pain, Jiao used her left dagger to swat the staff slanted, and then used her right dagger along with her left to lessen the impact of attack and to steal his weapon. In her current position, the staff was at her side, and her two daggers were between her and the weapon, with a cat’s reflexes she dropped her daggers, slithered her left arm around the staff and firmly grasped the weapon, her right hand helped, but it didn’t wrap itself around as her left arm had. Smiling, she pushed forward on the staff, and then quickly pulled back. She had to loosen his grip, so she put her whole weight into the maneuver, not just her legs.

If he lost the weapon, then she would slash at his sides with the tips of his weapon, as the monk’s once did. If she failed, then she was in for a fun little pummeling.

She had told him to make it good, to make it believable, but when he saw her eyes gloss over with tears it felt as if someone had sucker punched him right in the gut. Saying those words to her was by no means an easy thing for him to do but he had to do it, no matter how bad the taste in his mouth was afterwards. Bur it wasn’t that he was some kind of honorable gentleman with a conscience purer then the sparkling waters of an oasis. No, that definitely was not the reasons for his grievance.

Even before things were the way they were; he wasn’t exactly what one would call a nice guy. He was nothing more than riffraff, a boy who lived on the streets doing what he had to in order to keep his stomach from growling and that, on more than one occasion, had called for stealing from her and then came the day that he and Kasim had joined Zahirah’s gang. He had already done so much to the poor girl and that was why those words left such a fowl flavor in his mouth.

Then the thoughts of the past melted away as he watched her hands scramble about, picking up whatever sandy little flowers she could before tossing a plump little water skin filled with cactus juice at his feet and running off into the camp without so much as a glance back at him or the dreadful red, and as she ran Amin’s light brown eyes tracked her figure as it continued to shrink in the distance, but the quiet that had fallen over him was soon broken by a booming voice.

“Haha run little mouse run!” Yu-long shouted before bursting into an arrogant laughter. Amin couldn’t stand the man, but he knew he could neither do or say anything about it without receiving some of the reds’ ‘discipline’, so he remained quiet simply turning away from the man in hopes of avoiding the old guard’s annoying banter, but his eyes couldn’t help but look over at the soldier to see what he would do next.

Yu-long stood there, arms crossed and chin up in a haughty fashion as he kept his beady little eyes fixed on the direction Adiva had run off to. The look in his eyes and grin on his face caused Amin’s brow to raise and a little alarm to go off in his head. What did that old bastard have in mind? He could hear him mumble something under his breath, but what that something was escaped him

“Pretty little mouse...”



The scent of cactus juice was something he, like the rest of the slaves, had gotten used to after all the time he’d spent harvesting the stuff, something that he had become so familiar with that he could distinguish it from any other scent around him. So when he walked into the small little hut that he had been assigned to, and picked up the familiar scent, he had a feeling that he knew what was going on.

The dark haired man approached the working herbalist, making sure he didn’t step in the puddle of what he assumed was cactus juice and simply stood quietly behind her as to not disturb her. He simply watched as she continued to grind her flower petals and mix her venoms and juices, as he found her doing every now and again, still too busy to notice the man standing just a few feet behind her as she pricked her finger and mixed in the drops of blood along with the rest of her concoction, and when she was done he spoke.

“You drank some of the juice again didn’t you?” The man asked in a rather disillusioned tone of voice, his gaze resting on the turned back of the girl he had been living with now for two months, “you of all people should know what drinking that stuff will do to you, don’t you remember Tora?” He let the name sink in as he squatted down next to her, his eyes showing a hint of melancholy before he went on. “They found him dead in the middle of the desert with his hands clenched around a water skin filled with the stuff.” He heaved a heavy sigh before he looked down at what she held in her hands, but when he saw the bright red scrapes on her hands his brow furrowed.

“What happened to your hands?” He asked, a bit of anger coming through as he started to put together his own scenario.

Some Random Village

Don’t worry? If only it were that easy. It would be impossible for him not to worry, especially once they reached the town and he knew for sure whether or not Fire Nation troops really were there. If they were, he would have to work incredibly hard to restrain himself. Well, he was with Shtiya, who probably wouldn’t even hurt a mosquito fly. That would help him keep his cool.

He nodded at what Shtiya said about not causing trouble. That made sense. He would just have to make sure to keep that in mind if they ran into the Fire Nation. As they continued walking in silence, he thought about what to do. Just the thought of seeing the Fire Nation made his blood boil. It would take all of his willpower to ignore them if they were in the village.

When he felt Shtiya’s fingers intertwined with his, he calmed down a little. As long as they were together, everything would work out. He wanted desperately to believe that, but he just didn’t know if he could. When Shtiya spoke, he sighed. The Waterbender was right. He knew how not to get noticed, and he could stop himself from bending for a couple days. He sighed. It would be hard.

They were getting very close to a village when Hideo saw the Fire Nation flag. He stiffened, but continued walking. When Shtiya spoke, he looked away, squeezing the other boy’s hand hard. ”No, I’m not,” he said, his response terse. ”But I’ll try my best to stay calm.”

As they entered the village, he saw them. The troops weren’t doing anything particularly evil – just walking down the street – but it made him extremely uncomfortable. Hideo glanced at Shtiya, his expression pained. ”Please, let’s not stay here long,” he whispered.

Yep, village was occupied by Fire Nation, all right. A cadre of soldiers was visible as soon as they entered the main area of the town; it must've been their tracks the two boys had followed. Hideo seemed very nervous, while Shtiya felt strangely calm. To be honest, he knew he should feel more righteously angry with everyone in the Fire Nation, but he just couldn't muster it. Yes, what they were doing was wrong — but these were soldiers, not the men in charge. These were brothers, fathers, and sons. Every one of them was somebody's somebody, and they were all just following orders. It was hard to be angry with them in the face of that knowledge.

He felt the stiffness of the other boy and heard him say he didn't want to stay long. "They're just walking down the street," Shtiya said, sighing. He raised an eyebrow. So far, the soldiers hadn't even noticed them! They were doing great! They needed to find what they were looking for and stay out of trouble. That should have been an easy task.

Shtiya spotted an inn and headed for it. To get there, they had to walk right up past a group of soldiers. Feeling quite confident in their we're-nobody-special-walk, Shtiya sort of ... waltzed on over, hoping for the best, and went through the front door. The only notice they'd attracted was a laugh from one of the soldiers about how short they both were.

Once inside, the Waterbender located the innkeeper and inquired about a room. He counted money efficiently and quickly to rent a room for them for one night only. "Can you t---ell me," he asked the innkeeper, "is there a healer in your town?"
"Sure, he's a bit busy these days though, sug," the innkeeper said. She was a rather burly woman, whose motherly instincts were clearly inspired by two boys with such stature. "Soldiers keepin' him mighty busy. Down the end of the main road, though, and I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."
"Thanks!" Shtiya's smile was bright. He went back to Hideo, eager to share the news.

"Th-there's a healer here! I can go see him tonight!" He was bouncing a little with excitement. "And we h-—--ave a room here, so... we don't have to worry about anything." The Waterbender glanced away as several soldiers entered the inn, their boots stomping on the floor. "Well... a-almost nothing." One of the soldiers was looking their way, eyes on Hideo's bare feet and the faded blue of Shtiya's clothing, a bit of a frown on his rugged face.

Rolling his eyes, Shtiya turned away, silently begging the soldiers not to come question them. Unfortunately that didn't seem to be working, as the man broke away from the group speaking with the innkeeper and headed their way. "G-great," he murmured, preparing himself to smile brightly and yes-sir no-sir as much as possible.

Some Random Village

Hideo sighed. Shtiya was right. The soldiers weren’t doing anything wrong. He was just letting all the evil stories he had heard about the Fire Nation get to him. He didn’t even know if those stories were true or not. After all, considering that he had heard them from men who were either so drunk they could barely stand or so used to lying even they didn’t know when they were telling the truth, he couldn’t really on what he had been told. Most gossips tended to exaggerate anyway. He would just give these soldiers the benefit of the doubt for now.

While Hideo’s entrance to the inn wasn’t nearly as confident as Shtiya’s, he managed to not look suspicious, which was what mattered. He waited, leaning against a wall, as Shtiya spoke to the innkeeper. At least she looked like a nice person. When Shtiya came back and told him the good news, Hideo smiled. He was glad to see the Waterbender so happy. ”That’s great!” he said.

Of course, just as everything was looking as though it was going to be alright, Fire Nation soldiers came into the inn. Hideo glanced at them, then quickly looked away, not wanting to attract attention. But why would he? He and Shtiya were just two boys traveling together. There was nothing unusual about that, was there?

Apparently, there might just be, because one of the soldiers made his way over to them. Hideo watched as the man came closer, wanting to ignore the soldier, but knowing that that would only make things worse. No, he would have to be polite, as hard as that might be.

He soldier stopped in front of them, looking at Shtiya. ”Hey, boy, where’d you get those clothes? They don’t look very common.” Then, he turned his attention to Hideo. ”And you. Why are you not wearing shoes? Don’t you know that’s rude and unclean?”

Hideo looked at the man and plastered a small, polite smile and a look of humility onto his face. ”I’m sorry sir. Some one stole my shoes. I’ll be sure to get new ones as soon as I can.” His story was fine, wasn’t it? After all, these were tough times; theft wasn’t uncommon, especially when it came to travelers. Hopefully the soldier knew that.

Luckily, it seemed the man accepted his story. ”Hmph. Be sure to do that then,” he said. Then, he turned his attention back to Shtiya, waiting for the answer to his first question.

The soldier asked where his clothes came from, and Shtiya blushed, though he maintained the smile on his face. “I-I-I d-don’t know, sir,” he said, his stutter more severe now that he was under pressure. And, of course, one couldn’t be sure if he affected it more in order to be left alone or not. It was an easy act to play. “M-—-y father g-got our clothes from wh-—-“

The soldier was obviously annoyed by how long it was taking the small boy to get words out, and he seemed to assume quickly that Shtiya was both a simpleton and completely unthreatening. “I see,” he said. “Well, tell your father to make sure he isn’t trading illegally with…” he sneered a bit as he said the last word, “tribes.”

Wide-eyed, Shtiya nodded, as if thankful for the man’s advice. “Th-thank you sir,” he stammered. The Waterbender pressed his hands together, still smiling. “It’s a s-s-s-safe village, isn’t it?” he asked, eyes on the soldier’s face.

The man’s chest puffed out a bit at the question. “One of the safest! Order is being maintained here.”
Shtiya made a thank-goodness face at Hideo.
The soldier gave them one last once-over, now appearing satisfied. “Very well.” He shot Hideo one last disapproving glare. “Get some shoes, you hear?” He went to rejoin the rest of his unit as they left the inn, presumably to ‘maintain order’ somewhere else in the village.

Letting out a small sigh, Shtiya slumped against a wall. “Let’s find our room,” he said quietly, holding up a small key. They could set down their packs an figure out exactly what their next move was. Of course, Shtiya wanted to waltz down the road to have words with a Healer, but now that the soldier had pointed out Hideo's lack of footwear... maybe they had better pick up some for him, just in case. "How a---verse are you to wearing shoes, exactly?" he asked, heading for a stairway.

Their room was upstairs, end of the hall, last door on the left. It had only one bed and was quite tiny, but it seemed warm. Very serviceable. Shtiya threw his pack on the floor and flopped onto the bed, testing it. Hard, but fine. "Okay," he said, not moving an inch from his position, "we need a l-list of things to buy, an accounting of our funds, and... shoes."

Some Random Village

For once Hideo was glad Shtiya suffered from his stutter. The soldier didn’t even allow the boy to finish speaking before accepting his story. That made things easier. Hideo was sure that Shtiya had come up with a decent lie, but it was nice not to have to test just how believable that lie was. After all, the soldier may have been annoying and nosy, but he probably wasn’t stupid. And he could probably burn the two boys to a crisp if he found out that they had lied to him. So yes, it was much better this way.

Hideo had to try hard not to laugh when the soldier answered Shtiya’s question and tried to make himself look important. The Earthbender looked at Shtiya, and while his boyfriend’s look was one of fake security, Hideo’s said “This guy’s a loser.” But the look only lasted for a second before he affixed a smile on his face again. He pressed his hands together and inclined his head to the soldier. “Yes sir,” he said, feeling disgusted with himself.

As soon as the soldier was back with the rest of his group, Hideo breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Shtiya. ”Well, that was fun,” he said dryly. When Shtiya said they should find their room, he nodded. Any excuse to get as far away from the Fire Nation troops as possible was fine with him.

As he followed Shtiya to the stairs, Hideo looked at his feet. There was nothing wrong with going barefoot; it was natural. But apparently not natural enough to avoid attracting attention. He sighed. “I guess I can deal with wearing shoes for the time being,” he said sadly. A small part of his mind whispered that this wouldn’t be the only time he’d be forced to wear shoes, but he ignored it. He’d wear shoes when he had to, no matter how restricted they made him feel.

The room wasn’t exactly wonderful, but for one night it would be fine. He would enjoy sleeping in a bed again, rather than a sleeping bag. The sleeping bag was fine, but it just couldn’t compare to sleeping in an actual bed. He walked up to the bed and stared at Shtiya, smiling slightly. Now that they were alone again, he felt much calmer. When Shtiya spoke about making a shopping list, he thought about what it was like traveling. What did he feel they were missing? Well, the shoes, but those he would definitely prefer to do without.

He set his pack down and searched through it for the money bag his parents had given him. It was a decent size. It in no way contained a fortune, but it did have enough money in it to take care of some shopping. ”What do you think we need? Food comes to mind, but I’m not sure besides that.”

Some Random Village

Shtiya noted how sad the other boy sounded about having to wear shoes. Poor thing. He closed his eyes, bringing his arms up to rest behind his head. "Mostly just food," he said, stretching his spine. Really, that was all they needed — food and shoes. The Waterbender had almost every medical emergency covered, so they needn't worry about that. And they both had sleeping bags, and dishes to eat out of. They needed things like meat jerky, travelling bread, and dried roots. Hopefully they'd be able to find all those things.

They ought to consider getting out of dodge before either of them forgot and bent something. It was easy to picture; something spilled or got in the way and before they thought about it, on with the bending! and, naturally, the imprisonment. Though these soldiers seemed easy to fool, that might not be true if either of them messed up. Shtiya really did not want to stick around for a long time to find out. Hideo asked what he thought they needed, and he shrugged.

"Probably whatever dr---ied food we can find." He stretched his ankles. "And I'll go down the road to the healer and talk to him. See what he uses. If it's the same as Min, we can move along quickly." Shtiya figured Hideo would like to hear that; the Earthbender did not seem very comfortable around the Fire Nation soldiers and he seemed very upset about the prospect of shoes. Personally, Shtiya always wore boots. He wasn't sure if he got the whole barefoot thing. It seemed quite important, though, and he hated to force the other boy to wear shoes if they really bothered him.

For the moment, though, Shtiya was quite content to do absolutely nothing. He could hear Hideo rustling about in the corner. The edges of his mouth curved up in a smile. "You should s-stop messing with stuff and come here," he said. Sitting up, he leaned on his elbows. "We don't have to go get things right now." Shtiya tilted his head to the side, regarding Hideo curiously. "Unless you just w-want to...."

They didn’t need much. That was a good thing, in his opinion. It meant less time out on the streets of the town, near the soldiers. He couldn’t understand why Shtiya didn’t seem as bothered by the presence of the soldiers. Hadn’t the Northern Tribe been attacked by the Fire Nation? He had heard something like that, anyway. So if that was true, how could Shtiya be so calm around those who may have attacked his home?

Then again, as far as Hideo knew, the Northern Tribe was still free. The Earth Kingdom, on the other hand, was slowly being swallowed up by the Fire Nation, whose endless need to expand was so much like its namesake. Every day it seemed like the Fire Nation Army had taken more Earth Kingdom land. It infuriated him, primarily because there was nothing he could do about it. One sixteen-year-old Earthbender against the entire Fire Nation? He wouldn’t even last a second.

Shtiya seemed to understand how he felt, for which he was very grateful. Still, he felt bad for making Shtiya work around his baseless fears. He couldn’t be the same way the whole time they were travelling together. That wouldn’t be fair to the Waterbender.

When Shtiya suggested that Hideo join him, the Earthbender decided to listen. He put his money bag and went to sit beside Shtiya on the bed. He took the other boy’s hand, taking comfort from the warmth of the Waterbender’s touch. He didn’t say anything; if he did speak it would probably be about the Fire Nation soldiers. And hadn’t he just decided not to focus on his fears, even if they had manifested a few feet below him?

When Hideo took his hand, the Waterbender blushed. Though Hideo was thinking of them in boyfriend terms, Shtiya wasn't. In his mind, they hadn't had that conversation, so they were still at courting-level. Phase one, I like you, you like me too, let's get to know each other better. They still had a lot to learn about each other, which was obvious due to how calm Shtiya seemed and how upset Hideo seemed.

"They really upset you," Shtiya said, "don't they? The soldiers." He idlly traced the tendons in Hideo's fingers. Sure, it was true that the Fire Nation had attacked the North Pole. It was also true that Shtiya had not been there at that time. Having already fought with his father about an arranged marriage, he'd left for his travels by the time the Avatar reached the North Pole. He'd heard of the event, but he'd also heard that the North Pole remained free. The Fire Nation soldiers were... well, they were just people. Just boys, some of them, with the same kinds of hopes and dreams that all boys had.

Shtiya maintained a certain level of emotional distance from his family and the North Pole, anyway. The fight with his father had been.. explosive. Shtiya had actually thrown something. So he tried not to think about home too much, and that included any possible invasion. He knew how talented his brothers were as warriors, anyway. He was confident in their skill level.

Frowning at how serious Hideo looked, he hooked an arm around the other boy's shoulders and fell sideways onto the bed. "It'll be fine," he said, conspiratorially. "They never suspect the small ones." Narrowing his blue eyes, he tried to figure out what he ought to do so that Hideo wouldn't look so darned worried. "... Do you want to t--alk about it?"

Some Random Village

“They do,” Hideo said, looking at Shtiya’s hand in his. ”They just…” He trailed off, shaking his head. It wasn’t them that he was scared of. It was what they represented, what they did (or he thought they did). But not everything he had heard was rumor. The Fire Nation was slowly taking over the Earth Kingdom, for no reason other than to be more powerful. The thought of being ruled by such a militaristic, barbaric nation sickened him. He wouldn’t help them spread their madness further, wouldn’t kill for them. He’d – He’d kill himself first!

The thoughts he was entertaining were crazy. The Fire Nation wouldn’t take over everything. Wasn’t that why the Avatar existed – to keep the balance? All land ruled by one nation wasn’t exactly balanced. Everything would turn out to be okay.

Not that he actually believed that. That was just what everyone said – Don’t worry, the Avatar will make it better. He’ll fix it. He’ll bring peace to the world. Hideo had heard that the Avatar was a little kid. What was he going to do to quell the Fire Nation’s onslaught? Try to talk them out of it? Yeah, like that would work.

As Shtiya fell back on the bed, Hideo let the pressure of the Waterbender’s arm around his shoulders drag him down too. He stared into Shtiya’s eyes as the other boy spoke. Sure, they wouldn’t be suspected of doing anything, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have to worry. All it would take was one rock flying somewhere and they’d be on him, dragging him away to some horrible prison. And it would be so easy to slip up…

He sighed when Shtiya asked if he wanted to talk about how he felt. Maybe talking about it would make him feel better. He took a deep breath, then began. ”I feel like they’re just looking for an excuse to arrest anyone they can and let them rot in jail. It would be way too easy for one of us to forget and bend, and that would be it. They’re spreading all over the Earth Kingdom like rats, and we can’t do anything to stop them. And I’ve never liked fire. If I hit you with a rock, I’ll hit you in one spot and that’s it. You’ll heal and forget about it. But fire…as soon as it touches something, it spreads, and doesn’t stop going until it’s completely destroyed whatever it’s touching. And even if you manage to put it out, it’s possible to have horrible scars forever. And it…it…”

He stopped. He felt as though he were choking. His throat wouldn’t allow him to keep talking. There were tears in his eyes. He had never realized just how much fire scared him, but now that he thought about it, he realized that it terrified him.

The Earthbender was talking about the soldiers like they gained some joy from hurting others, as if they were truly just looking for people to hurt. Shtiya couldn't believe that — his entire worldview was built on the unshaking belief that all people, every person, was good in the heart. He truly believed that no one derived joy from hurting others, just as believed that all men, if given the opportunity, would choose to do the right thing.

"They're not rats," Shtiya said kindly, smoothing the front of Hideo's clothing. "They're just.. people —-" he wanted to explain why the soldiers weren't as horrible as the other boy seemed to think.

But Hideo was going on about fire, and it became more and more obvious that the other boy was quite abjectly terrified. "All things have the p-—-ower to destroy," Shtiya said. "They also have the power to renew. Life comes from death, always. N-new plants grow from ashes of burned ones, just as we all turn to dust when we die." He paused to breathe, considering how much he should say. "You could bury me alive, in the Earth, if you wanted. Or I could d-drown you. Anyone who breathes has the power to end the life of another. We all bl---eed the same blood. These men are... the same as the rest of us. They just..." Shtiya sighed. "They say power corrupts, you know."

Every man was born with only one purpose he could not change: to die. Every man wore the scars of life. And the same inexhaustible Earth that swallowed their tears when they cried soaked up also the blood of the dying, the water of the rain, the wine of the reveller. Life was an endless spiral, a snake swallowing its own tail. Even if the Fire Nation took the whole world over and burned it to ashes, the people would rise and build a new one. That was how things worked. That was how Shtiya saw them.

Hideo looked like he was about to cry, and concern wrote itself all across Shtiya's face. "D-don't cry!" he exclaimed. "It's all right!" Oh dear. Maybe asking the other boy to talk about it hadn't been the smartest move. "We-- we'll think of something. The world's not going to fall apart." The edge of his lip quirked up in a half smile. "I won't let them take you to prison." He laced their fingers together. "It's okay. We'll just... buy food and find the n-next village." He could always find another healer to talk to, more plants to experiment with. He hated to stay and make Hideo miserable. "Trust me."

Some Random Village

Shtiya was obviously trying to make him feel better, but it wasn’t working. He did have a point about death bringing about new life, but when he spoke of burying alive and drowning Hideo looked at him with alarm. And to call those…murderers the same as everyone else…that was laughable. They were murderers, which made them different. They deserved to be punished, but Hideo just didn’t know how. They couldn’t just be killed; that would solve nothing. They had to suffer, feel worse pain…

He realized what he was thinking, and it shocked him. What was happening to him? Thinking of hurting and killing other people – that wasn’t him. Even when he’d sparred with the other kids in school he’d felt bad for hitting them, even though that was what he was supposed to do. But these thoughts in his head were completely opposite how he normally felt. They made no sense to him.

He was so busy having a mental breakdown he didn’t even hear what Shtiya said. He just felt the Waterbender’s fingers intertwine with his. The next thing he knew, his head was on Shtiya’s shoulder and he was sobbing. His body was wracked with sobs as a well of emotion he hadn’t known lay within him burst forth.

”I-I’m sorry,” he said. It was all he could get out.

Oh no. Now look what had happened! "I — I —" What did he say wrong? Shtiya was horrified. "W-- no, it's okay! I'm s-sorry!" What should he say? What should he do?? "D-d-don't cry!"

He was completely dismayed. He was trying to be comforting! Wasn't the circle of life comforting? How did this happen? Completely taken aback, Shtiya wrapped his arms about Hideo and tried to figure out what in nine hells he ought to do. Saying 'there there, it's fine' did not seem like a good solution to this problem. He bit his lip, feeling totally confused and a little frustrated.

Hideo was apologizing for crying now? Would wonders never cease? "N-no! It's okay, you don't have to be s-sorry!" After all, hadn't Shtiya specifically asked if the other boy wanted to talk about it? Well, crap. This was totally his fault. "Um, please don't cry," he tried again, rubbing the Earthbender's shoulders lightly. "It's o-okay. We don't h-h-h-have to stay here. We can leave and j-—--ust camp if you want!" He didn't even care if he was going to be out the money at this point. As long as the other boy stopped crying. "I d-didn't mean to ups-set you so much! Honest!"

How did they get from punish-those-bastards! to this almost heartbroken weeping, anyway? Desperately, the Waterbender wished he could read minds. Then he'd know what to say.

Some Random Village

He was freaking Shtiya out with his crying. He should stop. But he couldn’t – not yet. He was caught up in his own confusion, and at the moment that was all he could focus on. He didn’t understand how he could have gone from being mostly pacifistic to completely sadistic in a few seconds. Yes, he didn’t like the Fire Nation, but he didn’t want them all to suffer! He would never wish that on anybody!

Shtiya was talking…about camping? He still thought that was the problem? Of course he did; that had been the main problem before Hideo had flipped out. But now the issue was different — it was his own internal problem, and there wasn’t much Shtiya could do to help. But the Waterbender at least deserved to know why he suddenly had another boy sobbing on his shoulder. He lifted his head from Shtiya’s shoulder, the flow of tears ebbing somewhat.

”N-no, it’s not that. I just…I was just thinking that the Fire Nation needed to suffer for what they were doing…a-and that’s not me…I n-never think like that, and it scared me…I’m sorry,” he repeated. He sniffed and wiped his eyes with his arm, trying to calm himself down. ”We c-can stay here. I’ll be fine.”

Well, what the crap. Shtiya had thought he had problems — good grief! The Waterbender was sure his face looked just as confused as he felt for a moment before he relaxed it into a smile. "It's okay," he said again, trying to sound confident. It was okay. Everything was fine. To be honest, his experience with other people crying on his shoulder was extremely limited. He had no idea what to do in such a situation. In his family, you didn't really do much crying, and so he didn't even have that much to go on.

When Hideo explained that he'd been scared by violent thoughts, Shtiya nodded. "Didn't I say that power corrupts?" He wiped tears off Hideo's face. "Everyone has a breaking point, Hideo." Glancing away, he paused before he continued, face rather somber. "Almost any man, good men, when p--ushed, will turn to violence eventually." Shtiya tilted his head, eyeing the Earthbender carefully. "Did... anything happen to you?" he asked, trying to be delicate. The other boy seemed quite gentle. It was one of the things Shtiya really liked about him. Was there some situation that had happened between Hideo and people of the Fire Nation that he needed to know about?

The other boy said they could stay in the village, but Shtiya still had his doubts. He thought briefly about pretending to go see the healer and then just... telling Hideo that there was nothing of use there. That way they could move on and he wouldn't have to wear shoes or feel guilty about it. Wouldn't that be best?

But what if he did that and missed out on something vital? Something he needed badly? Was it a risk worth taking? Shtiya frowned, chewing his lower lip. "If it would be b-b-better," he said, "I can go g-get things and you can stay in here. They don't bother me." He didn't want to go anywhere, quite frankly, until Hideo seemed to be feeling better.