Avatar: The First Fires

Suzumi sighed as she looked around for someone a bit more familiar, only to discover Jin just as the sound of stone scraping against stone could be heard ahead of where the group had been gathered, the door sliding open and the first guards leading the group out with the sound of a large gong above the gate. Suzumi quickly ran over to join Kurai near Jin.

"Miss Kurai, there you are, it seems that we are heading out. Do you mind if I walk with you and Jin?" She smiled, hoping for a positive response.

The warm desert air rushed in past the group as the first few members stepped out past the wall. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but sand dunes and occasional stone tower sticking out above the sand, reminders of how the desert had reclaimed part of the city in ages past. It would be dreary if not for her traveling with such a large group. From the city a crowd had gathered to wish the group well, cheering for all of, as far as Suzumi could tell, who they thought were heroes.
 
There was a brief look of surprise when a man helped move her luggage onto one of the sleds. Men were often chivalrous to her, but she wasn't expecting anyone to interact the moment of her arrival. Zhen then made a quiet giggle when he asked about fishing in the desert.

"Oh, no. I'm a traveler, so I carry everything with me," she answered with a smile. "Thank you for the help, sir."

The woman went silent, so she could listen to Yuan Ping. A hand went over her heart as he spoke; it stayed there until he was out of sight. A lot of her supplies were refreshed from when she stopped by a small village, who was gracious with the food and water. Zhen Xiu had a hard time paying them back; they kept refusing her coins!

Getting to know the people she'd be traveling with was important. She might as well start with this man who so kindly helped with her equipment. "My name is Zhen Xiu," she offered kindly.
 
Thirteen water tribe warriors walked down the street. They were the last that remained inthe city. The rest of the nearly five hundred young water tribe warriors had returned to the south pole. Annoski was at the head of two columns of six. he never understood why they walked in formation, then again he never understood why they called him sir. The warriors had left their homes and traveled to the fire nation. they had been searching for the prison where the fire nation had been keeping nearly two hyundred prisoners from the water tribe. It took nearly a year to track them down covertly, and then raid the prison and get them safely away from the fire nation. Xiu Ying Tse was the first place they had come too that they thought was safe. They had not been in the city long befoe the fire nation attacked. They helped drive the fire nation out, and were all recognized by the king for their bravery and sacrifice. After the battle almost all of the warriors who had survived began the journy home, with those they had rescued.

Annoski had been contacted by one of the kings generals, who told him f a plan to attack a fire nation facility in the desert. Annoski agreed to help without question. Now he and those who still followed im were making their way to the caravan. they arrived shortly befor the king had finished his speech. they did not need to hear it, they all knew what they were here for.
 
Kurai turned as Suzumi approached. She smirked. "I was wondering where you'd gone off to." She huffed and narrowed her eyes. Minoru had disappeared into the crowd. Bastard. If he was sneaking around, she'd find him and kick his ass. He was up to something and she didn't like it. She turned back to the waterbender and nodded. "Jin would be insulted if you didn't." She reached up to pat the side of his neck. "So, did you make any new friends? I see quite a few men in water tribe dress."
 
Hikari frowned softly as Shao lapsed into silence. Her blunt attitude would normally have her jumping on that comment and querying it to no end, but the expression on his face and his reactions to her questions thus far made her hesitant to do so. Abandoning the vague idea of asking him why, she told him what her mother told her when she came home, only about 10, crying because another kid called her bending style "freaky". It had made her feel better, although she couldn't say for sure if that same logic was failsafe. She went for it anyway.

"If everyone fitted the same mould then life would be boring. Everyone has their own strengths, weaknesses and general quirks, and if others can't accomodate any of them then they're probably not the people you'd want to be around." She screwed her nose up and stopped for a few seconds as the gong threatened to cut into her conversation, exasperation written into her stance. When it silenced and the scraping of stone on stone quieted somewhat, she glanced at Shao. "Regardless of what it is that makes you different, there will be someone somewhere who admires you greatly for it." She shrugged, a smile dancing fleetingly across her face. Her head turned in the direction of the gate now that she was finished speaking; some of the group were already moving off. She looked past them and out of the city.

Vast desert stared back at her. She quickly checked the sheathe at her side, making absolutely certain she had her bending water with her. Doubtless there would be no more to be found in a desert. A determined look set in, twisting the corners of her lips up and making her eyes glint. "Let's do this, then!"
 
Shao smiled softly as Hikari attempted to comfort him, of which she partially achieved her goal. Though Shao would not allow himself to get himself fully swept up into her motivational words, riding on the excuse that "she didn't understand." But has he had previously determined, he quickly moved onto the opening gates, the desert wind blowing in warm sand as it greeted them with a warm embrace. Only sand dunes marked the horizon as the caravan roused itself and began to traverse the sand.

As Shao's feet hit the sand, immediately he could tell the difference it had on his earth bending abilities. Instead of feeling a massive single rock under him, like it normally felt, he instead felt the tiny individual pieces of rock, and quickly realized that to earthbend at all with this material would take a much higher concentration rate. Walking along, he tried rising up a column of sand, only able to make a thin column about a foot high. Frowning, he furrowed his brow as he walked, figuring that if he was gonna last here, he would need to adapt to the new environment.

Turning to Hikari, he grinned as he dropped the sand, a sigh of relief escaping through his lips as the strain on his mind was released. "The sand here is so different to bend than normal earth. I guess it's kind of like the differences between bending water and ice, no?" Shao guessed, since sand was as close to liquid earth as you were likely to get. But he was quickly grasping the techniques he needed to grasp more sand and control it, noting that he needed a wider focus on his bending rather than the focused control that he normally had with solid earth.
 
The group had spent some time hiking through the desert, it was a rather quiet day out in the desert and it wasn't long before the caravan was winding its way through some old ruins of what appeared to be an Earth Kingdom outpost. One of the water tribesmen had gone ahead a ways when the sand started to shift and the ground started to quake. What appeared from beneath what everyone assumed were the quiet sands was something beyond most of their comprehension. What was even stranger was that as it erupted from beneath the sands (tossing the water tribesman far away and causing him to land on a set of rocks far away) it took flight and began hovering above the caravan with an eerie silence.



Suzumi had been plodding along behind Jin and Kurai, not really making contact with the others of the convoy. When the creature erupted from beneath their feet it was all she could take to stop herself from screaming. The creature was strange and frightening. She just hoped that it wouldn't turn to attack them...
 
Lian watched as the massive creature rose from the sands and began hovering above the caravan. After a few moments of everyone standing there in shocked silence, a lone earthbender let out a battle cry and launched a hunk of stone from the ruins skyward. The stone impacted harmlessly against the rocky hide of the beast, dispersing into dust and small fragments of masonry. Lian and several others stared over at the earthbender. Rolling her eyes at his stupidity, she then returned her attention to the serious problem of a giant sand monster floating above the group's path.

It didn't seem like the thing was trying to attack them at the moment, but who knew when and if that might change. No one else had tried to challenge it so far, but Lian didn't mind being the one to do so. If she could manipulate this colossus, it might wipe out the resistance group before they even got close to the outpost.

Spotting a girl looking not much older than her mounted on an ostrich horse, Lian smirked as she formulated a plan in her mind. She walked over to the girl and her steed. "Hey, if we use that ostrich horse of yours, we might be able to lead this thing away from here and out of our hair."
 
Traveling through the desert was very quiet, with hardly any words exchanged amongst each other. Zehn Xiu kept to herself, her straw hat shielding the sun from her eyes. Ying didn't make any noise except for the occasional chirp, but once the ground began to shake, he backed away whilst making alarmed squawking.

Staring wide eyed at what erupted from the sands, Zhen tugged on the reigns of her mount. The ostrich horse stood still then, still intimidated by the beast but keeping a confident posture for his rider. Just like everyone else, the Earthbender dearly hoped they'd not be attacked. Something told her they wouldn't be so lucky, though. They must have trespassed over its land, or maybe it was famished. Either way, they couldn't stand around doing nothing!

Zhen Xiu's dark eyes looked to a teenage girl who bounced over, suggesting they use Ying as a distraction. She was always willing to take a risk. With her bending abilities, she felt she could confidently guide her ostrich horse about the desert to get the monster's attention.

"Not a bad idea. We could at least send it away from the caravan so there's more room to launch an attack, if needed," she replied, with a boldness in her words. After giving the animal a pat on the neck, he brought them to the front of the group, eying creature to see what it would do next and deciding the direction they'd sprint to.
 
Minoru stayed to the rear of the caravan, keeping an eye on the woman on the eelhound while keeping his cloak wrapped tightly around himself to keep the sun at bay. Then the ground exploded ahead of them and the creature was hovering ahead like a hunter waiting for it's prey to make the first move.

He steeled himself drawing in a deep breath, fists clenched... before letting it out slowly. He couldn't attack using his firebending without exposing himself. He cursed before he broke off and in an instant was beside Jin.

"Never goes smoothly." he said dryly "Keep the baby safe." As much as he hated to admit it that as long as he couldn't firebend he was not going to be as usefull in a fight as would usually be but he would be by no means helpless. Reaching up before Kurai could stop him he pulled her spear puee followed by a shortsword she kept strapped to Jin's side and fixing the sword to his belt he set off at a run toeards the rocks where the waterbenders landed spear in his hand ready to be brakes against the ground or used as a javelin it the creature turned it's attention towards him.
 
Kiyo and Risa had been just as surprised as the rest of the caravan when the monstrosity erupted from the sands underneath their feet. The creature was certainly a sight to see. Kiyo practically facepalmed when the earthbender launched a rock at it. Seriously? lets attack everything in sight and hope it doesn't attack back! Kiyo thought sarcastically. Thankfully at least for the moment they weren't in harms way though who knows how quickly that could change.

"Risa, if that thing does attack wanna go for a ride?" Kiyo suggested to Risa even though he already knew the answer "I thought you would never ask!" she exclaimed in return her smile brimming. If all else failed which seemingly was probably the case Kiyo and Risa would have to take a much more up close and personal attack.