After the End: an A:tla RP

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"17 years ago almost to the day… Sozin's Comet returned after a century of absence. A visitor to a long waged war. The turning factor in it all. At that moment the Fire Nation was empowered in a way that no other peoples could hope to compare and it was then, they did again attack. On the eve of that night Firelord Ozai declared himself the Phoenix King : rightful ruler of the world. He and his armies set out to burn the entire Earth Kingdom to ashes! But a small group had prepared for this day, prepared to put end to Ozai's sinister plans AND his rule. Their preparation seemed complete, but luck and providence simply weren't on their side that night. Those fighting with the Order of the White Lotus did all they could to stop the Fire Nation's advance… and it cost most of them their lives.

Avatar Aang overcame his fears and hesitations and confronted the Phoenix King. The young Avatar did all he could... he fought with every ounce of his being and heart... but he could not overcome Ozai. Not without the avatar state. He did enough to delay the outcome though, saving almost the entirety of the Earth Kingdom.. and perhaps the rest of the world, from being laid to ash. It was on that night that the Avatar died.
While the world is still recovering from that day, we aren't without a chance. At the exact moment of Avatar Aang's death, the new Avatar was born into the Northern Water Tribe... My sister.

These days Fire Empress Azula oversees the newly formed Council of Nations, allowing her to maintain her absolute rule. Rule over what's left of a still rebuilding world. And in the stead of all that happened, the Order of the White Lotus once more has gone into hiding.

That's where our story begins.

With only mastery of Water the Avatar must set out on a journey to master Earth, Fire and Air. And restore balance to the world."

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Getting up had been a bit of a strain that morning on account of the new member to their group. There was certainly nothing wrong with the fellow. Well… aside for the fact that Kesuk was certain all the air nomads were dead! Yeah, with the whole genocide thing some hundred plus years ago this should have been some sort of fluke and if he hadn't seen Tain-Ci do a bit of air bending he would still believe it to be. One could not refute physical proof though.

All the same Kesuk had spent most of the night awake trying to figure how this could be possible. When he finally did get to sleep it felt it wasn't long before the sun was rising again and they were all getting up to continue of their way. Their plan would, after all, remain the same. They were headed to the city that had once been under the name of Ba Sing Sa, with the hope of finding a teacher to show Zirra the ropes of earth bending. That was at least another day or two away though at their current pace.

He tossed Zirra the pack of jerky, gnawing at his own piece as he unrolled their map to judge their progress. He might have offered Tain-Ci some, only… he was under the impression air benders protested the idea of meat- for some reason. "We should be getting close to a village soon." Fact was he was so busy examining the map that he didn't notice the settlement sitting in the distance as they rounded a bend of trees and stepped out onto the main path.

"Hopefully it's actually there this time." He added under his breath because it wouldn't be the first time this old map steered them wrong and they walked onto a plot of land only to find that a town was abandoned or demolished. They needed a new one. "Get some more supplies. Dumb fish broke the rod… salt…. Hey maybe we can spoil ourselves with something sweet." He glanced sideways at his sister with a bright smile. "I think we earned it."
 
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"Since when," he asked,
"Are the first line and last line of any poem
Where the poem begins and ends?"
― Seamus Heaney​

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Mornings are evil. There, she said it. She hates the morning.. and they seem to come around every day! If it were up to her, they would be spending the day doing.. well not a darn thing. Maybe swimming all day! She loves her home in the North, but these warm waters are simply amazing! She had said that she wanted to spend more time swimming and exploring the lakes, rivers and the ocean itself.. but Kesuk had been making sure they stay on point.

When the sun rose over the horizon, Zirra rose from her little sleeping bag. Well.. it's a blanket. Nothing fancy, since they can sparsely afford to carry to much with them. Not like they have an Air Bison, Polar Bear Dog or Satomobile to carry supplies and necessities in. That would be to easy!

So they had been on their way this day (Rhyme Note), Zirra walking behind Kesuk, letting her younger brother lead. Which was often the case. He was really good with maps, as if he had experience with them in another life or something. But that's just silly! While she follows him, though, her attention and eyes are elsewhere. She is staring at all the flora around them, looking up towards the beautiful trees they pass under and pass by. They grew up in a land of cold, snow and ice. While she had visited southern lands before, she has never been here this long. She has never been away from home for this long before. As much as she wanted to return home.. she can't deny how beautiful the Earth Kingdom is.

A soft gasp escapes her lips as the pack of jerky hits her in the chest. She bobbles it a few times with her hands, but ends up catching it, smiling proudly of herself. She takes a small piece of jerky out, and she holds it up towards her shoulder as she whispers "Snowball, have some." From under the top flap of her backpack, a small white Snow Ferret scampers out, climbing along the backpack to Zirra's shoulder. It grasps the tiny piece of jerky with its tiny claws and starts to nibble on it, resting on Zirra's shoulder now. Zirra takes another piece of jerky out and starts to chew on it, walking a little faster a moment to catch up with Kesuk when he pulls out the map. She looks over his shoulder at the map.. then realizes she's not tall enough to do that so she moves to his side, looking down at the map.

And as they come around that bend and onto the main path, Snowy lets out a soft little squeak between nibbles of its jerky. This causes Zirra to look up, blinking as she sees something in the distance. Her first instinct is to just stop, maybe go another way. But.. they are out here for a reason. She looks to Kesuk as he looks to her, mentioning something sweet. She smiles widely and nods to him as she speaks in a lighter tone. "I think we deserve it! Well.. I don't know if we do, but we should get some anyways!" She then motions ahead of them, towards the not so distant village. "I mean you seem to be a good navigator.. village's actually here this time!"
 
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Trailing behind the siblings was their newest companion, sent by the Order of the White Lotus to escort them to Ba Sing Sa and hopefully teach the avatar the art of airbending. Unfortunately, Tian-Ci found that things had grown awkward since their introduction, so it might be some time before he could get to that second part. The avatar's brother, Kesuk, had been rightly skeptical that he was an airbender, and while he had managed to quell it then with a display of his skills, he couldn't help but feel a distance between the two of them. For example, he had seen the hesitation in Kesuk's expression when handing out jerky, as if reminding himself that he shouldn't give any to Tian-Ci. Perhaps Kesuk was right to keep his guard up. As for the avatar herself, well...perhaps he had come on a bit too strong when introducing himself. The stories of the Avatar usually depicted them as old men or in one case, a bald kid, so he hadn't expected her to be so cute. Giving a small sigh, Tian-Ci reached into his pack and withdrew his own piece of jerky he had brought from Ba Sing Sa and took a bite from the seasoned dried meat.

Thankfully, his luck seemed to be turning up for the better this morning as they actually spotted a village at long last. His relief was quickly smothered as he remembered his mission, "Just remember, we need to be inconspicuous."
 
Wait. The air bender was eating meat? That was so bizarre to Kesuk. Maybe he'd been too rash and thinking the newcomer was some sort of vegetarian. Where'd he get that idea from anyways, was it the whole monk thing? Tian-Ci didn't exactly fit the image of a monk as he had it in his head though. Yep. He'd merely been too quick to draw conclusions on this one.

Now what was Zirra saying? He lowered the map to look ahead of them before what his sister said caught up to him and a scowl found its way onto his face. "Hey, I am a great navigator." He protested. "Those other towns just weren't where they were suppose to be." Sure he knew what that looked like but they WERE on the map- it wasn't his fault if the thing didn't match up with the actual geography.

He shifted his gaze to Tian-Ci after a quick glance at himself and his sister. "Inconspicuous?" He rose a brow at the idea, sure the air bender made a good point but the two of them were donned it blue- something sure to draw some attention so far from the water tribe. "Maybe we need some new clothes too…" He mentally added to the list before telling Zirra: "No dual, tri or quad bending while we're in this village." Not that she should be need to be told but as a precaution.., "and no talk of your title. Got it?"
 
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As Tian-Ci withdraws that piece of jerky, the Snow Ferret atop Zirra's shoulder perks up and looks towards the Airbender. Perhaps the small animal thinks Tian-Ci is also getting him some jerky too! But.. Tian-Ci starts to eat it himself, so Snowball scampers down Zirra's shoulder to her backpack, disappearing under the flap once more. With all the sudden commotion, Zirra looks over her shoulder towards Tian-Ci.

Giving Kesuk one more quick glance, Zirra stops walking abruptly. She looks over her shoulder to Tian-Ci, smiling as he now catches up to her. And once he is at her side, she starts walking again with him. Her hands are now looped around the straps of her backpack, her arms kind of hanging lazily from them. "I know the Avatar Cycle.. I mean it's been beat into my head ever since.. ya know.. we found out.." She glances around herself when she says that, her eyes moving back to Cian-Ti as she continues. "Airbending.. technically.. is supposed to be last. I mean I think it is.. it was a little foggy. I know I SHOULD learn Earthbending next.. but that doesn't mean you can't show me a few things, right? I mean how can I help it If you happen to be training while I happen to be within sight of you. I might actually happen to learn Airbendy.. things.. then." She says with a confident smile and a nod. Of course she shouldn't, she knows.

She didn't want to leave home at all to 'learn to be the Avatar'. Not really. But now that they have been gone from the Northern Water Tribe for a bit.. she finds herself rather excited to see more of this world. And for a few moments, perhaps forget the dire circumstances she has been placed in. And seeing more of the world, in part, is learning the Bending Arts. And since, as far as she knows, Cian-Ti is the only Airbender around.. like.. anywhere.. well it's just logical!

Her eyes flick to Kesuk as she hears him say something, and when he addresses her, when he tells her about restricting her Bending.. she gets an indignant look on her face. And it deepens when he tells her not to use her title. "Really, dad?" She glances at Cian-Ti, her cheeks getting a little darker with embarrassment, and she then takes a few quick steps forward to move to Kesuk's side as she speaks, her tone sharing the indignity on her features. "You don't have to tell me that, you know. I know it has to be a secret." And besides… she can't actually do dual, tri or quad Bending at will. Not yet. But she doesn't say that, of course.
But it's actually the first part of his shpeel that comes back to her. Her mind glossed over it at first when he tried to tell her what she shouldn't be doing. "Wait.. clothes.." Her pace slows, and she looks ahead of the small group, towards the trees. She shakes her head a little as she looks between the two men, her brows furrowed. "Do we really need to completely change our outfits? I mean we can be inconspicuous and still be Water Tribe, right? It can't arouse THAT much suspicion, right?" She blinks as her gaze shifts from one man to the other "Right? Maybe?" She's sounding more and more doubtful on that.
 
Perhaps his worries had been for naught? While he couldn't be certain of Kesuk, Zirra seemed to be pretty friendly towards him at the moment. What should have been relief only turned to confusion as he begun to wonder of he was losing his touch? In the end, Tian-Ci figured it was for the best if he didn't dwell on how his charm had or hadn't affected the Avatar. By the time his attention returned to the others, he found Zirra talking about airbending, reminding him that he still had to do that sometime soon.

"I can't say for sure since I'm not the Avatar, but it might be easier to find you a firebending master first since you have some experience with it. But...it wouldn't hurt to a head start with airbending." Of course, there was the teeny weeny problem in that he wasn't anywhere near a master, but he'd imagine it was better than nothing.

Their conversation quickly returned to his previous warning, prompting him to clarify on what he meant, "Getting new clothes would probably fall on the 'being super safe' side, I'd say. They probably know the Avatar is from Water Tribe, but as long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, we should be safe." Probably and safe being the key words here.
 
The upcoming village was simply a small stop for the blond hair girl, who had arrived at said village only the previous night. She had to restock on food and really she needed a chance to rest herself. She had been travel for several days now non stop, had she not completely ran out of arrows she would still be traveling even further on. Alicia didn't have a goal or a destination that really gave her a reason to push herself so hard when it came to traveling. She simply did it because she wanted to, she felt if she stopped in one town for too long she would get homesick and the last thing she needed was any sort of reason to return home.

Currently she was getting her arrows restocked, sure she could make her own if need be, but it was far quicker to buy them at a local blacksmith. She took her time inspecting the quality of the arrows, and soon enough she found two dozen arrows that suited her perfectly. Taking these up to the counter she bought all of them and proceeded to store them in her quiver that rested on her back. "Excuse me...um where would the butcher happen to be?" She asked in a soft almost shy tone as she put away her money.

"He'll be just down the street and on your left." The blacksmith replied before looking at her with a raised brow. "You wouldn't happen to be traveling alone would you missy?"

"Hm? Oh um Yes I am. Is that a problem?"

"Not if you know how to use that bow of yours well, been real dangerous around here of late so you may want to watch your step."

"Dangerous?"

"Aye, been a bunch of punks messing around with the people here, just letting you know to be careful and keep that money of yours hidden real well."

At this information Alicia blinked a few times before smiling and bowing her head. "Thank you for the information, I'll try and be careful." With that she fixed her quiver and bow make sure they were sturdy before turning on her heel and leaving the shop. Hastily she made her way down numerous shops heading for the butcher, she wanted to make her purchase and simply return to her lodgings for the rest of the day.

All was going well, one step after another and nothing happened, barely anyone was on the streets. A few kids, some older men and woman having a nice conversation in and there. The sight gave of a friendly feel to the village and easily made one lower their guard even if that person just received a warning to watch out. When she arrived at the corner she had to turn she came to a sudden halt when several men and even some women blocked her path. A grand total of five of them seemed to come out of no where and encircled her.

"What do we have here? A traveler?"

"Nice bow you got there girly. Mind if we take a look?" One of the woman asked as she held out her hand. None of the individuals looked kind in any way. Each sporting a tattoo or a scar, their clothes were messy and one of the woman's shirts seemed to have fresh blood on it. Of course this made Alicia feeling rather frightened as she had never been confronted by so many people in one go...especially no one that looked this threatening.

"What's the matter pipsqueak? Catgator got your tongue? We asked ta see that bow of yours so hand it over."

"And while you are at it anything nice like coin or valuables, why don't you hand them over? Hm?"

"Uh, I'm sorry...but I don't think I want to do that. I need these so excuse me.." Alicia said softly keeping her head down she tried to walk forward but before she could one of the men grabbed her shoulder hard making her stop.

"You aint going no where till you give us what we want." He hissed at her making Alicia flinch a bit and look at all of them. She couldn't help but gulp as she started to quiver, obviously frightened by them.

"B-But I need these, the blacksmith is over there, you can get a bow th-there if you want."

"I'm sick of talking! Hand over you crap!" One man shouted as he reached for her bow the other loosening his grip a bit as it looked like she couldn't get away.

The scared girl did what any sensible firebender would do.... She screamed like no one's business. "EEEEK!!! HELP!!! HELP ME!!!" She shouted as she ducked covering her head and barely dodging the incoming hands. Her sudden shriek was ear piercing and made all the thugs grab their ears in pain from the sudden sound.

"Shut up!!" One woman shouted as she went to through a kick at the girls face. Alicia still panicking a bit had crawled between one of the guys legs before the woman could hit her. And with that she bolted down the street trying to get away from the five thugs that instantly perused her.

"Get back here!!! If you don't stop I'm going to burn your ugly skin off!!!"

"GET AWAY!!! FROM ME!!!!"
 
"Why wouldn't we go for super safe?" If all it took to achieve that was a simple change of clothes there should be no reason for his sister to be against it. Tian-Ci understood the reasoning beyond this: It was no secret that the next avatar in the cycle was destined to be of water. It wasn't much to go by for the enemy but why risk it? "Look, if we can find something cheap we should but we'll see how things work out. There's a lot of stuff we need pick up." By the time he was saying this they had reached the town outskirts. He rolled up their map and stashed it back into his bag.

"Alright let's all stay together. We're strangers to this place." Needless to say if they needed to leave in a hurry he didn't want to lose his sister somewhere. With that said his gaze then started to drift across their surroundings. Things didn't look too bad here. The homes and work places seemed presentable on the outside and the people were as he would expect to find… Nothing really outside of the mold in this village. He was relieved.

It was as he found his way to a fruit vender that something steered his mind from previous assumptions. A group of what he could only describe as dirty thugs came out of an alleyway and started hassling a girl. "Stay out of it." He told his sister as he focused on counting out their money. He knew her. She wouldn't be able to resist trying to help this stranger and this little tiff had nothing to do with them. With a few moments of it starting the victim was running off. Kesuk refused to look because he may be tempted to do something should he see the fear on her face. They needed to stay out of trouble.
 
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Zirra listens to Cian-Ti's opinion of the Avatar Cycle.. of what she should and shouldn't be doing first. She looks ahead of them as he speaks, about finding a Firebender master first.. because her 'experience' with Firebending was Firebending for about 10 seconds, and she's not even sure how she did it. And ever since then, she hasn't been able to. No matter how hard she's tried, she hasn't been able to Firebend again.

"Even if it's not.. ya know.. high mastery Air Nomad techniques.. you know more about all that stuff than I do. The spirituality, doing meditation.. all of it." She says with a nod, looking in Cian-Ti's direction a moment more.

Now the girl looks between the two men as they speak of better safe than sorry. She huffs lightly, her hands clenching the straps of her backpack a little more tightly for a moment. "I mean.." she starts softly, looking towards the ground in front of her feet as she continues to walk. "I get it.. super safe and all. And Water Tribe, them knowing I'm.. knowing the Avatar was born into one of the Water Tribes. It's just that.." she glances towards them both another moment, before looking down once more. "These are MY Water Tribe clothes.. I don't wanna feel like I'm ashamed or afraid to wear them." She knows she's probably not making sense to them, to the logical fellows. Her reaction and trepidations are more emotionally driven. Again, while she does want to get out into the world and see more.. her Water Tribe gear is a little reminder of her home. Of her parents, of the love for her family.

Now reaching the outskirts, her eyes draw towards the village itself. Huh.. it's not so bad. She expected Fire Nation troops to be at every corner or circling the sky or cackling manically from balconies as they collected the money and tears from those unlucky enough to be living in this place. But.. none of that. And she even looks for cackling Fire Nation troops on balconies.. doesn't see one. Zirra now starts to walk forward once more, the little trio moving as one. "Even if we find cheap clothes.. I can probably find materials to repair 'em, make 'em look prettier." She says with a nod, her eyes scanning everything around them, a wide smile on her lips. She finds herself something of awestruck in this new place.. these new people.. more and more she wants to learn about the world outside of the walls of the Water Tribe. And as the group comes to a stop near the fruit vendor, Zirra looks over the foodstuff, feeling hunger now making it hard for her to focus. She looks towards the vendor as she smiles her sweetest smile "Excuse me.. is there somewhere around here we can get an egg custard tart?" Now she's barely been out of the Water Tribe for terribly long, and for the most part she's eaten only the things they brought with them, caught or gathered. This is really the first time they might get real cuisine, even if it's just fruit. So given that.. how is it Zirra even knows what egg custard tart is, or that she really craves some? She really shouldn't even know about it yet..

But the same thing that temporarily distracts Kesuk gets her attention also.. the 'thugs' messing with the girl. As Kesuk counts what funds they have.. she just stares, her features falling gradually. Her brother knows her to well, warning her to stay out of it. She continues to stare.. she remembers what the boys told her..

"We need to be inconspicuous"

"No dual, tri or quad Bending. No talk of your title."

"They probably know the Avatar is from the Water Tribe, but as long as we don't draw attention to ourselves we should be safe."

"Why wouldn't we go for super safe?"

The logical part of her mind hears the words again.. but another part of her mind.. perhaps the one so connected with her heart and her very spirit says something else. And usually THAT voice is the loudest in her ears.

"I.."

She says in something of a stammer, now looking between her two companions. Her gaze snaps back towards Alicia as she practically screams, as the thugs gave chance.

"I'm sorry.. I can't.. I just can't.."

Zirra grits her teeth, and she is in sudden pursuit of the group. Kesuk is going to be sooooo mad. Cian-Ti won't be to thrilled either, she knows. But she can't ignore this, she can't just step aside when she knows what the right thing to do is. Alicia and her pursuers run, and Alicia passes a couple puddles on the street. Inconspicuous things, surely. None of them probably even notice the little puddles. But Zirra does. As she's running, her hands draw back, and then sweep forward in front of her, crossing, her fingers outstretched. Alicia passes the puddles completely, and the water of those puddles suddenly leap out towards the middle of the road, right in the thugs' path. But it only remains there a moment.. before the newly formed puddle freezes into a sheet of ice. Hopefully the thugs won't notice, or don't have time to stop.

Kesuk is gonna kill her.
 
"I can teach you the basics; the function, but not the meaning behind them," He admitted to her, "I only have hazy memories of my real parents and the other Air Nomads, so most of what I've learned, spiritually, was from my adoptive family in Ba Sing Se. Values pertaining to those living with earthbenders and the White Lotus." Henghe, his adoptive father, had often told him of how the Air Nomads behaved, yet he never quite felt like those values were a part of him.

Zirra's attention turned to their discussion on being safe; reluctant to toss away that which was such a large to her identity. He might have had some sympathy in that regard, but he could only admit that her safety was more important for the time being. Still, he would leave up the persuading to Kesuk, who appeared to be much more aligned with that train of thought than he. Unfortunately, the conversation came to a screeching halt as a scream pierced the air. Their attention turned to the girl being harassed and it was fairly obvious what the outcome was going to be.

Although he cursed his luck, Tian-Ci hadn't been completely unprepared for such an occasion. "You sure do know how to pick a town," He replied to Kesuk, his snark light-hearted before he began his approach to the situation in the making. Much like the circular motions that came with airbending, so did his thoughts spin and turn as he devised a solution to what was sure to come. By the time Zirra's waterbending created an ice slick before the gang, Tian-Ci had reached them.

"Maybe that should cool you off." He boasted to the gang as they slip and fell, revealing his plans to his companions: deflecting attention from Zirra by pretending to be a waterbender.
 
The blond hair girl ran full speed without stopping for a moment trying to get away from the group chasing her. The thought of using her bending certainly crossed her mind, especially after one threat from the thugs made her remember she herself was a bender. However due to the sheer numbers she wasn't certain if she could handle them. And to be frank she wasn't interested in testing her luck against the numbers. So she stuck to running, she knew they were catching up, she didn't dare glance behind her not wanting to know how close they were.

As she ran she didn't notice the sheet of ice that had suddenly formed in her path, however the thugs noticed...sadly just to late. The one in the front tried to stop but when she did the other four crashed into her and they slide on the ice heading right for Alicia. The blond firebender now looked behind her to see what was with the sudden crashing noise. When she saw the group sliding to her she barely had enough time to react. She was able to move to the side just as the thugs slide by, tumbling some, one even crashed into a pole.

Blinking several times in surprise Alicia looked around and spotted a girl in water tribe clothing, she put two and two together before running up to her. "Oh gods d-did you do that?" She asked as she stopped in front of her and pointed at the ice sheet. "If s-so thank you so much I don't think I could have handled them on my own." A kind smile went on her lips as she looked at the water tribe girl. Before she could say anything else cusses reached her ears and she quickly looked behind her once again where she saw the thugs get right back up. One who had a bloody nose and all of which were very pissed at what happened, not only because they didn't get their target but because they also felt humiliated.

Gulping Alicia quickly moved behind Zirra cowering a bit behind her even shivering a bit. "I didn't even d-do anything to them." She said softly to the water bender as she looked up at her with fear and worry. "H-Honest, I don't know why they are after me. I-I wa-was just trying to get something to ea-eat."

One of the females had and enraged look on her face as she glared at the two girls and the air bender as well, fire igniting from both her hands while her buddies pulled out swords and one of the men also had flames leaping from his hands. "You bitches are going to pay for that. We were just going to jack your stuff, but you had to go and make things difficult for us! So I guess its karma time for you brats!"
 
Anju clasped her hands together behind her back and raised it as far as it will go up her back for a good stretch. She looked around Hui Village, taking her sweet time, in hopes of finding a clothing merchant. The young Earth bender picked around at each of the vendor she passed, peeking at their wears. Anju sighed as she couldn't find a clothing merchant. Ah speak of the Devil... there is one right there! It was alittle bit across the way. She couldn't hold her happiness for too long and skipped the rest of the way, while resisting the urge to run.

Anju looked around, gently picking up materials. She took her time appreciating the quality of them. All kinds of shades, colors and patterns. And there she saw it, gold cloth that sparkled no matter which way she turned it. "Ooh... good thing I decided to stop here on the way home instead of giving up." The lady who was selling the clothes just smiled and offered to show Anju more cloth material like the one she taken a liken too. "I just recently got that in, it's quite beautiful no?"

"Oh yes! It is a beaut ma'am." She enthused with a soft thick accent laced hint of masculinity. Anju pulled out her coin purse and told the lady she would be taking the gold material along with a few others that sparked her interest. "I bet with the right person using these materials, it'll make the perfect clothes!" The merchant lady nodded her head and wrapped up the materials in the leather satchel Anju handed over to her.

Anju bowed slightly and gave her thanks. She closed her eyes and took a big whiff of some delicious meat cooking off in the distance. She moaned hungrily, then opened her eyes and looked over at the lady embarrassed. "Ah, Miss. You must be smelling Ketu's cooking. He's practically the best in this village. Just follow your nose and you'll find him right next to two fruit merchants." Anju grinned widely and scratched the back of her head as her embarrassment slowly died down. "Will do ma'am!"

And with that, she did indeed follow her nose. Right into trouble...five of them. They were encircling this girl, talking about some bow. Anju wasn't really paying attention, it was none of her business. Besides it would be troublesome to meddle in someone else's affairs. She kept walking, glanced around at the people next to stalls looking away, some even looked head on at the commotion and gossiped to one another. Anju bee lined her way to the food section of the market ignoring the commotion the best she could. Once she made to the first merchant she let out a sigh of relief and readjusted her satchel, not that it needed it, and began walking over to whom she assumed was Ketu. Because that's where her nose was leading her.

And then out of no where someone she barely recognized came sliding through the dirt and grass in front of her into a pole. She nearly fell backwards, but used that momentum to twirl away a few steps. She narrowed her eyes at the man. But before she could doing anything he got up and walked away. Anju huffed and followed the man to get on his case about watching where he was going. Only to see the man juggle fire with his hands standing next to four others who seem to being eyeing a girl cowering behind some dark skinned lass in water tribe clothing. Anju looked around to assess the situation and seen a lad standing next to a frozen puddle on the ground. Another water tribe fellow? And a bender at that. Anju smirked, the two water tribe people must have gotten sucked in the cowering one's mess. She shook her head realizing she was going to be in it too. But not to save the girl or help the two water tribe members, but to talk some sense into that fellow who had nearly made her fell. Which would have ruined her beautiful clothes.

And on that thought... her eyes traveled to the cowering lass and eyed her over. She had nice taste in clothes, perhaps she could tell Anju where she got her clothes. The Earth Bender clasped her hands in front of her and cracked her knuckles. It was time to have alittle fun to work up a appetite for Ketu's meat. Anju put her usual smug face on and took a basic stance of Earth bending that all beginners master before moving on, and waited until a nice sized pebble lifted into the air in front of her. And with a flick over her wrist she flung the pebble at the man playing with fire.
 
Kesuk fumbled as his sister bolted towards the commotion and though he dropped a number of their coins right then he didn't bother to retrieve them. "Zirra!" Why couldn't she just listen to him?! He turned to take chase and ended up sliding across the ice himself, so much in a hurry to get to Zirra that he didn't even notice it until it was too late. He unintentionally crashed into the thugs, plowing them down like bowling pins just as one was jerking from the strike of a pebble.

He didn't apologize and instead immediately scrambled upright, grabbing Zirra by the elbow. "I can't believe you! What don't you understand about the concept of caution?!" What was worth the risk of exposure anyhow? He didn't know why she didn't understand it… If the empire got their hands on her- well, he shuddered to think.

He pulled her a step away from the group before his gaze flicked sideways to the girl she was shielding. This was ridiculous. Zirra hated fighting so what was she doing getting in the middle of something like this? "Just let people solve their own problems." Because they had much bigger ones to put their efforts towards. Like mastering all the elements and staying alive. Zirra was the avatar- she couldn't worry herself over every little individual issue or they'd never get anything done! He started pulling her again. "Come on, we still have a lot of shopping to do."
 
Wearing:


Zirra comes to a stumbling stop as her patch of ice lays out the group of ill intentioned, taking a moment to catch her breath as she slips into more of a defensive stance, her hands held out in front of her. She looks to Cian-Ti out of the corner of his eyes.. he's trying to make them think HE'S the Waterbender. This is something that genuinely worries her. She has no want for anyone else to take consequences for her decisions. Especially bad decisions, which this definitely is.

Her gaze then trains onto Alicia as the poor girl moves behind Zirra, and her eyes then move back to the small gang as they get up. Oh boy they don't look pleased at all, do they? "D..Don't worry.. my Waterbender friend" She motions to Cian-Ti with a faint nod of her head "and I won't let them hurt you." Again, she's not sure of Cian-Ti's motives exactly, but she thinks it would be a good idea to go with it for the now.

Zirra's eyes widen a bit when the flames emerge along the very skin of 2 of them.. Firebenders! Uh oh.. are they Fire Nation troops?! She feels her heart suddenly start to beat even faster, her already heavy breathing getting a little more quick. She doesn't really take note of Kesuk right away, since her focus is on the thugs.
Yes, Zirra isn't combat experienced.. at least not as much as most. She's had some training, of course. But she isn't a high end fighter by any means. So why indeed would she put herself into danger? If asked, she would merely tell you that it's the right thing to do.

She is taking inventory of those around her, the thugs, the Airbender pretending to Waterbend, the scared girl she kind of saved.. and another girl in an Earthbender beginning stance.. her eyes linger on Anju before slowly sliding back to the thugs.. and she lets out a sudden gasp as Kesuk starts to drag her off. Her wide eyes move to him, and she tries to stop their movements. Of course he's much stronger than she, so she can't do a ton to fight. "Kesuk! No! We.. I.. we can't!" She looks over her shoulder towards Alicia and the thugs, and then back to Kesuk "I have to help.. isn't that the point of us being out here?!" She almost tells him that's the point of the Avatar, to help people. From a certain perspective. She looks over her shoulder once more towards Anju, Cian-Ti and Alicia.. her tense body seems to relax a little as she watches them, as she is pulled away by the much more logical and mission oriented younger brother..
 
Tian-Ci was not a stranger to humiliation. There had been times in his life when he may have...overestimated himself and ended up looking like a complete fool. He remembered trying to woo Hitomi and being rejected and that one time he picked a fight trying to impress Jun-Lei and got knocked himself out with the first punch; he could go on! This time, however, hurt just a bit. He had thought himself so clever by devising a plan to pretend to be a waterbender so others would overlook the real one. It was supposed to be easy since he had done something similar back in Ba Sing Se by posing as an amateur earthbender. And now his elaborate plan had unraveled as the gang had completely ignored him and Zirra's confusion didn't help. By the time he mentally picked up all the shards from his broken ego, Kesuk had reclaimed his sister and a wild earthbender emerged, offering her assistance by launching a rock at one of the gang members.

"Kesuk, could you please escort Zirra and our new friend away?" He declared, referring to Alicia.

While he had missed his big chance earlier, he had to lie in the bed he'd made. Crouching down, he dipped his fingers into the melting puddle of water, casually swirling it. Withdrawing from the puddle, an orb of slush water, entrapped by a ball of air, rose with it. Carefully winding back, Tian-Ci launched the ball of ice and water at the other firebenders who had yet been struck by the earthbender.
 
Kesuk had really only made it a few steps after his sister's brief struggle to break his grip and he certainly wasn't far enough away at that point NOT to hear what he was being told to do. To suggest he take responsibility for the main target of this whole scene… that was ridiculous. Then he noticed that those that chased her weren't just toying around- while the pebble had broke one of the fire bender's concentration the second had reeled back their fist and prepared to fling the element right at Alica. He saw the gesture, shoving Zirra a few more steps in the opposite direction and jerking around to snag Alica by the arm and yank her out of the literal line of fire. He supposed the only thing that kept the bender from launching another fireball at that point was Tian-Ci hitting the man in the back of the head with an orb of water. "You want some of me you water barbarian?!" The thug shouted at Tian-Ci, clearly falling for the rouse. Following up the threat with a forward strike of flames.

Tian-Ci picked the fight so now he was just going have to finish it himself as far as Kesuk was concerned. He looked at the girl that was the cause of all this commotion, this stupid mess. There was a certain softness to her features that caught him off guard... well, she was rather pretty- that was the root of it. Or maybe the result of it... Before he could think too long on the subject the man with the swords got antsy. Swooping towards them with the edge of one blade. "Ack!" As surprised as Kesuk was he still parried the strike with his machete, shoving the man off balance and twisting around to run with Alica's hand in his. Better get some distance between them and this scuffle.
 
Anju laughed as the man lost his concentration. She couldn't help but notice a ball of ice coming from the waterbending male's direction and making contact with the other firebending one. This was going to be easier than she thought. She wouldn't have to put in minimum effort to get rid of these thugs and teach 'em a lesson. Anju quickly assessed the situation. Five thugs in total, a gender mix of men and women. Two firebenders.. so the others might be nonbenders. Anju was already facing one of the benders while the waterbender male was facing the other. One nonbender went after the three, of whose two names she heard to be Keseuk and Zirra. While the remaining two would have been better off leaving or trying a sneak attack on her and the waterbender but instead they followed the lead of the first and went after the escapees.

Anju had no idea of the abilities of those three except for the one she assumed was Kesuk. He didn't seem to be able to bend. The cowering one wouldn't be able to do anything bender or not. And the one she taken to know as Zirra seemed capable, but could she bend? Whatever, time was of the essence. She really wanted to eat, she brought herself into this mess and had to end it quickly. She rolled her neck to ease any tension. She opened her legs shoulder width apart and brought arms down, palms up. She could see that the one facing had gained his senses back finally and coming at her a flurry of projected fire balls. Anju raised one arm to toss herself into the air above the fireballs. In the meantime she had used her other arm to levitate a couple of rocks and aimed them around the firebender before her feet had left the ground.

Although she directly control the path, it still did what she wanted it to do. The rocks became embedded into the ground around one of his legs, preventing further movement. The other one remind free as he managed to get that one out the way. Anju looked over to Kesuk, and narrowed her eyes as the other two non benders were upon them. She took in a deep breath and let it out as she slapped her hands together then brought them out. Three petite but strong mannequin like arms came out the ground and grabbed the three offenders. That should offer the escapees some time to escape before they managed to break out.

Distracted slightly, her right arm got singed by not to concentrated aim of the imprisoned fire bender. She grimaced as she grabbed arm turned slightly to see the man rearing for another attack.
 
Alicia was heavily confused and just as scared at everything that was going on. For a moment she thought the waterbender girl was going to help her, something she desperately needed. But it looks like that wasn't the case as she was dragged away by another male, the girl struggled a bit but all in all it didn't seem like much in the help department was going to happen or so she thought. Her focus has been on the pair but it was taken when she felt heat come close to her. Glancing behind her, her eyes widen at the sight of the fire that was racing straight for her. It was far too close for her to dodge in anyway or form she barely had time to give off any reaction. Though luckily for her, someone was to the rescue as he arm was tugged hard and she was brought out of the path of flames. The forced made her stumble toward Kesuk and out of the way in the nick of time much to Alicia's relief. "Thank you." She said softly her eyes watching as the thugs continued to reckless attack on the suddenly formed group.

She placed a hand over her mouth at the sudden fight and a wave of worry went over her as all she saw was that this mess was her fault. "I-I'm s-sorry." Her voice wasn't above a whisper as she looked at the fight shaking just a bit. She may be a hunter who knew how to do that job well, but when it came to direct confrontation with other people, it felt like an entirely different area. Something she simply wasn't used to and something she had yet to get used to. Her gaze was taken from the fights to an approaching enemy that was about to attack both her and Kesuk with a blade, something the water bender had parried off so neither ended up injured. After that she found herself being forced to run away with the other, getting some distance in between them to get away from the thugs. As she ran with the water tribe member, the male could feel her shake even though all he held was her hand. "This is m-my fault, I...I'm so-sorry for all of this." She apologized to the man almost on the verge of tears, she simply felt so horrid for bringing others into this mess especially since it was obvious he at least wanted nothing to do with it all.

At this time the firebender that was trapped thanks to Anju was sending out another attack, not to her however. But to the two non benders that were trapped. Rather he shout a powerful flame at the hand constructions that were holding them back. The flames were powerful enough to do the job and it certainly helped that the two had had been caught were struggling to get out. Once that was done the firebender drew back both his fist and sent out a torrent of fire to Anju ready and willing to roast the girl alive.

Out of the two men that were free one of them was so enraged he grabbed his weapon and charged after Kesuk and Alicia the other however took several steps back. He felt uneasy about all of this and without so much as looking back he bolted away from the scene leaving only four thugs left in the vicinity.
 
"What a mess this has become." He said with a sigh, sidestepping a great gout of flame from the firebender he had just pegged with his slushball. The heat of the flame made his skin feel tight, and while uncomfortable, it was not quite unbearable. Firebenders, from his knowledge of those from Ba Sing Se, were relatively predictable; you get them angry and they generally just fired straight lines in front of them without thought. There were obviously those who remained composed and maintained their skill, but Tian-Ci usually fled at that point...an option he wouldn't have nowadays. Fortunately, this one fell in line with that stereotype and while that was amusing and comforting, he knew this skirmish needed to end before the village went up in flames.

Scooping up a handful of rocks, he hurled the first at the fellow blasting at him, striking him painfully between the eyes. With that one distracted from the pain, he slung the next few at the others. It might not have been as impressive as bending, but getting hit by rocks going that speed was not something one wanted to experience.
 
It would seem Anju was mistaken. It wasn't that the firebender wasn't concentrating enough on his attack but he was instead aiming for his comrades."Tch... who knew idiots were capable of smart acts?" She grinned as she focused fully on him. The firebender already had another attack aimed out her. Aiming to not give her any time to think and possibly act, but that was his third and final mistake.

Anju quickly stomped her right leg onto the ground, raising the earth into a thick wall. The wall soon after completion took the brute force of the attack. And to make sure it did, she reinforced it with another wall directly behind it by using her other leg. She then pivoted on her left leg and did a complete 360 and smacked the wall with her left elbow. Which sent the 2nd wall and what was left of the 1st flying into the man (figuratively speaking). After it made contact she stopped the walls and flattened them into the ground.

Anju looked in the direction the man was sent, luckily he avoided any stalls, buildings and people. That was sure to knock the wind out of him and knock him unconscious. She dusted off her hands, as if she finished doing somebodies dirty work and got messy. She eyed the rest that was left. Seemed one decided to go after the escapees anyway. One fled, the other unlucky enough to still be trapped got pelted by rocks. Anju didn't throw them so she looked over to the waterbender and raised her brow.

She looked at the hand that still had one in its grasp and took control of it to fling the person in the general direction of the fleeing one. Whether or not they collided was of no consequence to her. She focused her attention onto the final firebender who seemed to still be reeling from some type of inflicted pain. And sure enough once they got over it enough, they were pretty angry. Anju did the same move she did last time when she propelled herself through the air to avoid fire attacks earlier, but this time used it on the firebender who was concentrating on the other. Anju raised her hand and placed above her brows as if she was blocking the sun and watched as he flew through the air towards a nearby stream deep enough for safe landing.
 
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