Book One: Spirits

When the ostrich horses began making noise again, Rikkako was the first to move. Kari and Pong, however, groggily placed their pillows over their heads, groaning.

“Come on, guys,” Rikkako attempted to rouse her friends. “We should probably go check that out.” With a deep sigh, Kari brought herself into a sitting position. Noticing Pong wasn’t moving, both began to kick him with increasing intensity until he finally grumbled,

“I’m up, I’m up!” Pong flipped his sleeping sack open, standing quickly and smoothing his clothing out. “Why do we need to keep checking on this stuff, anyway? Why don’t we let the guards do it?” Karizibi and Rika exchanged a glance before exiting the tent, creeping out toward where they kept the horses.

Inside the luxury cart, the sounds of the ostrich horses awoke even Shu who was now peering out curiously. She noticed a figure sneaking around which, upon closer inspection, she could make out as Pong. She snuck out as quietly as she could, able to discern Rika and Kari from the shadows as she got closer, deciding to try and scare the trio. However, Pong spoiled her sneak attack, turning and noticing her, then waving her over.

As usual, although the horses looked nervous, no one could notice anything that would explain their reaction. Kari decided to move closer to the horses in her investigation, ignoring Pong’s complaints which were quickly increasing in volume.

“This is so stupid!” he whined. “Ostrich horses make noises all the time! I don’t know why you think this time will be any different from the others!” Quickly, Kari and Shu shushed him.

“I hear footsteps.” the small earthbender whispered. As quietly as they could, the group crept toward the noise. Before they realized what had happened, a guard was confronting Rikkako and Pong. Kari and Shu chose to remain in the shadows, silent.

“What are you kids doing up at this hour?” he demanded.

“We heard the ostrich horses making noise and came to investigate.” Rika’s voice betrayed her exhaustion.

“They’re horses,” the guard shrugged. “They make noises all the time.”

“Well, they’ve been making these particular noises every night we’ve stopped in a town.” Rika attempted to explain.

“Really?” the guard seemed genuinely surprised. “The other guards and I only noticed them making noise tonight.” From the shadows, Kari and Shu could be seen by their friends dramatically rolling their eyes. “Anyway, you kids should go back to sleep. We have everything covered here.”

“Absolutely, sir,” Rika bit back her sarcasm. “I’ll be heading straight to bed.”

“Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea!” Pong stormed off toward their tent, Rika close behind. However, as soon as the guard had left and Pong’s eyes were shut, Rika turned on her heel and headed for the other girls. They knew, by pattern of previous nights, it wouldn’t be long before some new commotion started up.

As it turned out, the girls were absolutely right. A loud clatter rang out, sounding similar to a frying pan hitting the ground. Pong shot up in his bed roll.

“I suppose you’ll want us to go check that-” he stopped suddenly realizing Rikkako was gone. His rage was apparent as he left the tent, barely able to conceal himself in this state. Pong caught up at the cargo car, just in time to watch Rika trip a small boy attempting to flee. The benders were on him in an instant. The boy lay on the ground, frozen in terror.

From the moonlight, they could make out that the child was dressed poorly and was covered in dirt. Clutched in his hands was a small handkerchief with bits of food sticking out of it. Karizibi and Rika exchanged looks, forming a plan without words.

“What were you doing in the cart?” Rika demanded.

“P-please!” the boy stuttered. “It’s my mom! She’s very sick...I just wanted to get some food for her.” Rika’s expression softened slightly.

“Can you tell us where she is?” the waterbender requested. “We could help her.”

“N-no.” the boy shrunk back. Rika knelt to his level.

“I’m a healer.” She tried to explain. “I could make your mommy better. Wouldn’t you want that?” The boy stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, but then suddenly shook his head vigorously in another negative response. Seeing how scared he was, Pong stepped toward the boy, emotion clear on his face. However, Shu caught his arm.

“So help me,” she growled. “If you fuck this up...” Pong seemed undeterred and knelt down to hug the young boy anyway.

“She’s telling the truth.” He tried his hand at convincing the child. “We could help your mom.” The young boy began to cry, forcing Pong to back off. Kari let out a frustrated sigh, squatting to stare the boy in the eye.

“Look,” her voice was low and dangerous. “You don’t really have any options. You can either take us to your mother, or we can call the guards.” At this point, the boy began wailing. Rikkako simply picked him up and began to carry him away. In an instant, the guard from earlier had appeared.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded.

“I was just looking at the stars.” Shu was suddenly staring up at the moon. The guard gave her a look, but seemed to believe her story.

“Wait a minute, didn’t I tell you kids to go back to sleep?” Kari decided to step forward.

“Well, we were trying to sleep until we heard a frying pan fall out of the cargo cart. It was loud enough to wake up Pong. How did you NOT hear that?”

“I was over there patrolling!” he pointed off into the distance. Kari raised a brow.

“That one kind of looks like a penis!” Shu giggled, apparently referring to a constellation.

“Hey, I have one of those!” Pong chimed in, staring up at the sky now as well.

“Well, we caught this CHILD stealing from your ever so secure cargo cart.” Kari smiled sweetly at the guard.

“He claims he was stealing food for his mother.” Rikkako cut in. The guard surveyed the situation.

“Well,” he stroked his chin. “Although I don’t agree with his methods, I think we can allow for some charity on our part and give him the food. He’s only a child.”

“But I wanted to heal his mother.” Rika tried to explain. “He won’t tell me where she is.”

“You can’t force the child to tell you where his mother is.” the guard shrugged. “If he won’t tell you, you need to let him go.” Rika made a face, but as she looked back at the child, noticed a small scrape on his arm. She wanted to prove to him that she was a friend. Producing healing water, she was able to place her hands on the boy and heal his arm just before he ran off. Pong attempted to erect an earth wall in the child’s path, but it was easily dodged.

“Hey, wait!” Shu called after him, gathering the handkerchief the boy left behind. “You forgot the fucking apples!” She threw one of the fruits after him, but he didn’t stop. Defeated, the group could only watch.

“What does that word mean?” Pong asked after a few moments of silence.

“Uh,” Shu quickly concealed her panic. “It means that something is really...Delicious.” With a shrug, Pong turned to head back to the tent for the night. Barely covering their laughter, the girls followed a few yards behind behind.

The last one to enter the tent, Karizibi paused. Her head snapped to the tree line where she thought she might have seen the shadow of a woman, but whatever it was, it was gone now. She quickly ducked into the tent, happy she would be surrounded by friends. She hoped that would be enough to keep her safe.