Book One: Spirits

The death lantern floated in front of Kari’s face, immediately spiking her heart rate. The last dream that started this way was over so quickly that she couldn’t keep up with the flashing images. This time, she vowed that she would remain focused. Again, there were many flashes, but Karizibi managed to pluck a few pictures out. The first image was a golden Earth Nation symbol, but any other details were lost in a flood of other objects and faces. The second image came a few seconds later: a scene of hundreds of arrows falling in fire. She tried to examine the scenery, but it, too, was lost. The third image she clung to was one of the Avatar, meditating as he had been at the air temple, but now floating in a black abyss. Kari tried to reach out to him, but this picture was also quickly snatched away. At the sight of Huwei’s silhouette with glowing red eyes, Kari awoke with a jump.

“I’m going to go look for the kid from last night.” Rika was already heading out of the tent. Karizibi was surprised, but also a little concerned. She had slept in?

“Sure.” Kari nodded, clearly out of sorts.

“Are you feeling okay?” Pong asked once the waterbender left the tent.

“I’ve been having some weird dreams.” Kari shrugged. “It’s nothing important.” Pong frowned.

“With all the weird spirit stuff going on, do you think the dreams might have something to do with it?” Kari eyed Pong, knowing he was right, but not sure if she should trust him or not. After a few moments of deliberation, she decided to share the two dreams she could remember.

“What do you think they mean?” Pong asked, handling this information better than Kari had expected.

“I don’t know.” she gave her honest reply. The two fell into an awkward silence. “I think I’m going to go talk to Shu and get ready for the rest of the trip.” Kari stood.

“Where’s she at?” Pong followed her after collapsing the earth tent, clearly not wanting to be left alone.

“The luxury car.” the firebender replied.

“Why don’t Rika and I get to ride in the luxury car?” He asked, his voice betraying a small amount of hurt. Karizibi stopped and turned to face him with a small smile.

“Because I didn’t think you guys wanted in. Would you like me to get your tickets switched?” Pong’s face immediately lit up. Kari ruffled his hair before walking over to the nearby caravan director.

“Goro.” she commanded his attention. “My companions have saved this caravan several times now from thieves and bandits alike. Don’t you think seats in the luxury car would be a suitable award for their efforts?”

“Sure.” Goro shrugged, walking away.

“And there you have it.” Kari smirked at Pong, grabbing his arm and pulling him into the luxury car.

“I’m looking for a little boy.” Rikkako had walked into the first store she could find in the fishing village and was questioning the woman behind the counter.

“Well,” she stroked her chin. “There aren’t many children around here. This is mostly a trading town - no place for children.”

“Would you happen to know where any of them live?” Rika knew she was hoping for a lot.

“No, sorry.” the woman smiled.

“Well...” Rika glanced around the store, noticing that the woman was selling wood carvings. One in particular caught her eye as a gift for one of the other group members. “In that case, I’ll be buying this.” she grinned, handing the carving over and paying for it.

By the time Rikkako made it back to the caravan, the tent had disappeared and her friends were nowhere to be found. She decided to poke around the other cars.

“You guys in here?” she called into the luxury car.

“Come on in!” Karizibi’s voice replied from within. “I didn’t know where you were or I would have told you earlier. I switched your ticket!” Rika smiled, surprised at the firebender’s thoughtfulness, but that expression was soon wiped from her face.

“This food is so fucking!” Pong’s young voice came from within. As Rika stepped inside, she found Pong shoveling food into his face without any shred of concern for how he looked. “This is the most fucking food I’ve ever had!” Rika tried to keep herself from laughing at him. She had decided that fun needed to come to an end before his mouth got them into trouble.

“That’s not what that word means.” She informed him, face serious.

“Food?” Pong looked at her confused.

“No, the other one!” Rika gave the others an exasperated look.

“Oh!” his eyes grew big. “Then what does f-...That word mean?”

“It comes from the word ficken,” Kari spoke before Rikkako could. “Which means ‘to strike’”.

“BUT,” Rika jumped back into the conversation. “It’s a bad word!”

“A bad word!” Pong’s hands shot up to his mouth, staring at the others in horror.

“It is not.” Karizibi refuted. “There are much worse words.”

“Like cunt!” Shu chirped.

“What does THAT word mean?” Pong seemed fascinated.

“It’s a term of endearment you should use for your female friends.” Kari could barely keep a straight face.

“No, it most certainly is not!” Rika slapped Kari on the arm who began laughing hysterically.

“That’s a bad word too! You shouldn’t be using any of them!” At that, she left Shu and Kari to their giggling fit, returning to the study of her bloodbending scrolls. Pong pushed the rest of his food away, suddenly silent.

Around noon, the caravan stopped for lunch in a small village unfamiliar to any of them. Rikkako decided to try and lift Pong’s spirits and took him for ice cream. He was clearly still beating himself up over the swearing incident earlier in the day. When they returned to the caravan, Kari and Shu were close behind, happily showing off the portrait they sat for. The caravan began to move.
“I hope you got a refund.” Rika tilted the canvass in different directions, confused. “What’s wrong with your faces?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Shu demanded.

“Your lips look all weird.” Rika pointed out. “You two kind of look like...Turtleducks?”

“They’re kiss faces!” Karizibi defended her purchase, snatching the painting back. “Anyway, I think it looks cute.”

“And why are you making those weird symbols with your hands?” Both Kari and Shu made disgusted sounds, turning their backs to the waterbender and entering a discussion Rikkako couldn’t care less about. She opened her bag to retrieve her bending scrolls, but paused when she discovered something that hadn’t been there before.

“Hey guys,” she called the others’ attention to her as she produced a small box with a gold Earth Nation insignia on its lid. A pale-faced Kari looked to Pong, alarm clear on both their faces. “I don’t remember this being in here.” Rika yanked on the box a bit, discovering it was locked shut. “Let’s see what’s in it.” Kari found her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth. As much as she wanted to talk, she was paralyzed. As the entire image suddenly clicked into focus, she realized that this was what the dream was trying to show her.

“Here,” Rikkako offered the box to Shu. “I froze the lock. Try hitting it and see if that helps?” With a solid smack, the lid popped open. From within, Rika began pulling on a golden chain, a gold earth medallion attached to the end.

“Woah,” Shu awed. “What do you think it is?”

“I don’t know...” Rikkako marveled.

It was at this very moment that their car came to an abrupt halt. Rika quickly shoved the medallion and box back into her bag.

“Can you guys hear or see anything?” Karizibi asked, peeking through a window.

“I think I heard them say something about a thief.” Rika pressed her ear to the door but couldn’t hear anything else. “You don’t think they mean...?”

“We need to give it to one of the guards.” Pong spoke up.

“Now, wait just a second.” Shu calmed the group. “If we give them the box, they’ll think we stole it.”

“And if they find it when they search us, it will look even worse.” Kari agreed. “Let’s play it cool for now, but if they’re looking for the box, we need to give it up.” Shu didn’t look happy, but everyone else was in agreement.

She and Kari were the first two out of the caravan, which they discovered had stopped in the middle of a forest. Voices could be heard arguing toward the front of the caravan.

“The thief who stole my item is on this caravan.” A man accused, jabbing a finger in Goro’s face. He was flanked by some tough looking thugs, but Goro also had a guard on either side of him.

“Hey!” Pong was the first person to reach the accuser. “What are you looking for?”

“I’m not discussing this with a group of kids.” The man laughed at the notion.

“Well, we happen to have discovered an item in our car that we didn’t leave with.” Rika spoke up.

“And we’re more than happy to leave with it, too,” Karizbi smirked. “Unless you’d like to discuss this further...”

“I don’t see why you’d have it.” The man examined the group more carefully. “Unless, of course, you’re thieves.”

“Or unless it was planted on us.” Kari boredly examined her chipped fingernail polish. “This caravan hasn’t been the most secure. It wouldn’t be the first time something of this nature happened.” Kari sent a glare in the direction of Goro, but he didn’t seem to be paying her any attention.

“Fine.” The man growled. “What do you have?”

“What are you looking for?” Rika met his question with another.

“I don’t think you kids want any trouble.” The man cracked his knuckles.

“Wanna make some?” The small frame of Shu moved in front of the others.

“Little girl,” the man chuckled. “You and your friends aren’t really any threat to me.”

“I don’t think my father would appreciate you saying that.” She tried to use her noble blood to her advantage.

“Most fathers wouldn’t.” The man grinned. “Men,” he addressed the muscular looking pair standing behind him. “Search the caravan.” Everyone watched, disgusted, as Goro did absolutely nothing to stop him.

“I don’t want trouble!” He whispered, clearly panicked. As the hired muscle went to search the caravan, Rikkako moved closer to Kari, whispering in her ear.

“They can search the caravan all they want. I have the box with me. We just need to make sure they don’t start searching us, considering what I’m carrying.” It took a moment before Kari realized what she was talking about - the bloodbending scrolls. Although these men weren’t the police, discovering those scrolls could give them blackmail material. At that, Rika and Shu followed the thugs in. Pong chose to stay at Kari’s side.

“I don’t see any reason we shouldn’t allow these men to search us.” Goro tittered. “It’s not like we have anything of value with us anymore.”

“They’re searching for an item that they refuse to describe.” Kari explained, never breaking eye contact with the man. “They could easily take any item from any person in that caravan claiming that it was what they were looking for all along.” Karizibi crossed her arms. “Idiot.” she added thoughtfully at the end.

“Well, aren’t you opinionated.” The man mocked Kari, but she stood tall. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her. “You’re from the Fire Nation...Aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yep.” She gave her one word response, popping the “P” at the end.
Suddenly, Karizibi caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Before she or Pong could pick out what was happening, hands were clamped around both their mouths. Ropes were quickly tied around their bodies and they were hoisted up into the trees. Inside the caravan, Rika grabbed Shu’s shoulder.

“Is it just me, or did it just get quiet outside?” she asked. Shu paused, listening.

“Do you hear Kari arguing anymore?” She asked. After a moment’s hesitation, the two bolted out the door to discover Pong, Karizibi, and the man were missing. Following the sounds of strange bird calls in the trees, they were quickly able to spot a nearby ladder and scramble up it before the caravan guards even realized what had happened.

At the top of the ladder, the two were faced with a number of platforms in the trees, each higher than the next.

“If we fall,” Shu threatened. “I will fucking kill you.” There was something else the two then noticed: standing in front of them was the boy from the night before. “What the fuck?” the young earthbender groaned before the other child grabbed hold of something close by, zipping off into the trees, laughing. As the cut rope fell through the trees, the two realized it would be hopeless to pursue him, but also that the area was probably filled with more ziplines. They looked around for their friends and were able to make out several figures on the highest platform, but couldn’t tell who any of them were. They figured that would be as good of a goal to work toward as any.

Rikkako produced two large water tentacles while Shu pulled earth from the ground, forming them into gauntlets. They began to push their way up from the first platform by way of narrow catwalks. A giant of a man barreled toward them, but with a quick swipe of a tentacle, he was knocked from the pathway. A man right behind him swung at the girls with two scimitars, but was easily knocked onto the second platform then over the edge. Just then, two arrows came whizzing past, narrowly missing Shu. The two were able to spot an archer on the third platform and began to push even harder in that direction, but more arrows came streaking past. Looking up, a second archer was discovered on the fourth platform. Making their way up the ramp would be no easy feat while deflecting a barrage arrows. However, despite taking many hits, they reached the third platform. Shu lunged at the archer, but he unfortunately was able to grab hold of a zip-line, flying down to the first platform and out of range of either bender.

The man who held up the caravan stood over Karizibi, appearing very pleased with himself. Kari was tightly bound and gagged and, to her right, she could tell Pong was in a similar state. She took in as much of her surroundings as she could, searching for anything or anyone that might help her. In a building beyond Pong, she was surprised to notice she recognized two others: alongside the woman who attempted to kidnap the councilor at the Republic City ceremony was Keng, the thief from the caravan. Kari took a breath and, with difficulty, generated a small fire in the palm of her hidden hands, burning through the rope. She now had a target.

“How long did you think you could get away with being a Fire Nation spy?” The man above her asked, calling her attention back to him. She calmly stared straight into his eyes, determined not to show any amount of emotion. Pong, however, could be heard struggling off to the side.

“My name is Naoto,” the man finally introduced himself. “And I am the leader of the Earth Kingdom Nationalists. I believe you’ve already met Smellerbee, the leader of the Freedom Fighters.” Smellerbee moved up to Pong, placing a boot on him to keep him from squirming. “We know it’s not your fault,” Naoto continued. “But you don’t have to ally yourself with the Fire Nation. In fact, one of our own is a firebender. Meet Lee!” A firebender was brought into view. By this point, Kari was through the ropes, but knew she had three powerful enemies practically on top of her and her legs were still tied. If she made a move now, it would ruin her entire plan. Her eyes remained in a deadlock with Naoto’s.

“For 100 years the Fire Nation has been power hungry.” He continued his speech. “Through this new facade, they will make new attempts. They can’t have changed their ways in only a quarter of a century.” Pong gave a particularly violent lurch, knocking Smellerbee off him. She responded with a solid kick to his face. Kari could hear the boy whimper. A fire burned in the pit of her stomach. “You can join us and help us to end this tyranny! Look at all the pain the Fire Nation has caused! How long before they cause more?” Naoto’s speech was ended here as Kari noticed movement in the background. With a final glance at Kari, Naoto ducked into the building with Keng while Smellerbee and the firebender hurried toward the commotion.

Shu and Rikkako had finally made it to the fourth platform, Smellerbee being the only thing blocking their access to the less narrow platform. Rikkako made the decision to engage the woman in an attack despite the increasing number of arrows she could hear screaming past. However, in a display of absolute luck, the archer on the fourth platform dropped his bow off the ledge making the fight slightly more fair. Cursing, he quickly drew a dagger and began to advance. As Rika and Shu began to retreat, they turned just in time to notice the giant man they knocked off the catwalk had climbed onto the first platform, shoving the archer there out of his way. On the ground, they could see the two guards had been knocked out, one looking to be in bad shape. Fortunately, it didn’t look like the swordsman would be moving anytime soon.

Shu and Rika did their best to fight against Smellerbee, knowing full well how dangerous she was from what Kari had mentioned. Together, they were able to push her from the catwalk. However, Shu could see her limping away below. With the four enemies left to deal with and no conscious guards in sight, she knew they would be forced to let Smellerbee get away. Karizibi used the distraction to her advantage, quickly sitting up and burning through the rest of the rope as well as removing her gag. In a matter of seconds she was through the door to the small room, a blast of fire lighting up the room. The group couldn’t see what else was going on inside.

Rikkako turned to strike the bowless archer, knocking him to the ground. Something had snapped within Shu who then leapt on top of the man, strangling him with her earth gauntlets. Sickening pops could be heard from the man’s neck. As she let go, his head fell limp and at a odd angle. Rika, unable to hold it in, vomited over the side of the catwalk, crouching down to collect herself. She was just happy Pong couldn’t see the young child take this man’s life. However, as the giant thug’s club came whizzing past, the waterbender knew she didn’t have much time. As quickly as she could, she pulled herself together and rushed up to Pong, slicing through his ropes. Too far away to pull earth from the ground, Pong jumped up and ran to the first enemy he could find, punching Lee in the face. Meanwhile, Shu sprinted toward the large thug, punching him in the face with a gauntlet, clearly breaking his nose. The man looked like he hardly noticed the pain.
At that point, Karizibi emerged from the small building, dragging two scorched men with her, bound by rope.

“Pong!” she yelled, realizing he was now free from his bonds. “There’s hot coals in here! Use them!” Using this to his advantage, he and Rika began to fight against Lee, but everyone froze when they heard a yelp from Shu. All heads snapped in her direction. She was being dangled over the ledge of a platform by the giant. If she fell, it could easily be a 50 ft. drop, a fall that Smellerbee barely survived. She was able to break free, eliciting a few gasps, but just barely grabbed onto the edge of the platform to keep from falling. Pong, looking a little closer, called out to her:

“There’s a platform beneath you! Just fall!” Shu did just that. Unfortunately, the giant was then advancing on a weakened Rikkako. She and Pong retreated further into the fourth platform. Just as Kari stood to join the fight, another man zip-lined onto the fourth platform, however, a fireblast knocked him off the edge before he could even get a solid footing. She took another step forward, unleashing her whip against the firebender. He collapsed just as Pong and Rika dealt a combined finishing blow to the giant. All eyes turned to the last man standing, the archer. Realizing he was alone, he quickly zip-lined away, cutting the rope.

The group took a minute to catch their breath. Battle had only lasted a minute, yet they had taken on roughly 10 enemies. At least one of them was dead, a topic no one wanted to bring up. Karizibi and Rikkako were the first to stand, realizing that more people could be back any minute. While Rika healed her severely wounded friends, Kari tended to the enemies. Borrowing Rika’s rope, she tied the remaining men up after searching every last one of them. After being healed, Shu joined in as well, kicking the corpse of the bowless archer to the ground when she was done with him. Several screams could be heard from the ground below in addition to the crunching of bones. Rika and Pong winced.

Cheap weapons and a few coins were all they could find on the men, in addition to some helpful kits. Most of these things would be sold in the next town. Kari then moved into the room where Keng and Naoto had been. She extinguished the fires slowly consuming the room searched around for anything of use. She found a little more gold, arrows, bamboo poles, water, coal, but nothing useful aside from the charred remains of some blueprints, which she pocketed. Working as a team, they were able to move all the tied enemies to the ground through a system of pulleys, as well as an unhealthy looking Rikkkao.

“Are you alright?” Pong asked, assisting her toward the luxury car.

“I just need some rest.” She waved him off. “Healing takes a lot of energy.” Neither seemed ready to discuss what they had witnessed Shu do just moments ago. While Rika lay her head against the glass of the window, Pong curled up into as small of a ball as he could on the seat.

Checking around for anyone who might be listening in, Kari bent to whisper in Shu’s ear.

“I’m going to go get some guards to figure out what to do about all this. You should probably go take care of the body.” She momentarily seemed to forget that she was talking to an eleven year old child. Regardless, Shu nodded in response, dragging the corpse with her. Kari was able to find the two guards that remained standing on the other end of the caravan, calming the panicked passengers. From their perspective, bodies seemed to just be falling from the sky. She called a guard out.

“We took care of the situation.” she informed them, barking out orders like she had been doing it all her life. “They were members of the Earth Nation Nationalists and the Freedom Fighters. They’re all tied up, but they need put in confinement until we can get to the next town, then they need to be moved into an actual prison. I’m keeping the leaders with me in the luxury car so I can keep an eye on them.” The firebender eyed the guards, but they didn’t seem to be protesting.
“Furthermore, the two other guards have been badly injured. Our healer used all her energy taking care of us, so you will need to take care of them until we can get to a hospital or until our healer has had time to rest.” The men nodded in agreement. “We have dangerous prisoners on board. We need to move quickly or we’re going to be attacked. To their organizations, we’re the kidnappers.” At that, Kari walked off.

Before she could make it into the luxury car with Keng and Naoto, she found Shu walking out of the forest, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asked gently.

“Yeah.” The young earthbender replied, eyes downcast. “I don’t want to talk about it.” Kari nodded. However, as she was about to turn, she noticed movement behind Shu. There, several feet behind her, stood Huwei. Kari and the spirit stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, but Huwei soon turned and walked off toward where the body had been buried. As she reached the grave, Kari watched the spirit change into its grotesque demon form before disappearing.

“Get in the car.” she quietly commanded Shu, quickly dragging the men in after them and snapping the door shut.