The Strange People of Chin Village

Loki	Loki was mildly creeped out by the quiet way Nokomi was talking and responded to her questions by shouting back, "You go ahead. I'll stay her and make sure Zai's side feels better." She looked over at him with a sad little face and then looked at Nokomi with a grin. "Have fun," she said with a wave.
Mood: Bossy Condition: Fine

Dark hues took notice of Nokomi leaving the healer's building and venturing off on her own. The situation had become fortuitous given it could now be a one on one encounter; the other two were just there in case they had to meet group to group, but with that no longer being the case Tensei could reunite--approach the target by himself. Get it together, you have a mission. The General told himself as he shook off the sentimental thoughts that had been creeping in his head since he was assigned to the mission. He didn't like to believe in fate or anything of the sort though the coincidences were too strong to just be mere happenstance. Whatever the case now was the time for action.

"You two stay here, if her group leaves before I return, tail them." Instructed the man before setting off after Nokomi. She seemed rather distracted by her own flute playing to notice anyone was following her though when she stopped to talk to a group of children Tensei had to make a quick exit to some nearby vegetable stands in order to stay hidden. Some looked fresh, others not so much, and the smell of the decaying produce was none too pleasant. Luckily, the target had soon moved on and the tailing would begin once more to a location that the General had no knowledge of. He had been too far out of earshot to hear Nokomi's conversation with the children, though even if were close enough the sound of that damn flute playing for however long would have rendered his ears useless anyway.

He would tail the girl for a while longer before a building would show up in the distance, the probable destination. It seemed an inn of sorts and it then dawned on the young man that Nokomi had been tasked with finding lodging for the night and the conversation she had with the kids was for directions to said inn. There was no way to tell how long she would be tied up while attempting to acquire a room for her group so the time to strike was now. Tensei began to quickly close the distance between he and his sister before speaking. "Stop Nokomi, we need to talk." He stated while lowering the hood on his cloak. It had been years since the two had last seen each other, and while Tensei wanted to stick strictly to the business aspect of this mission he was ready for any emotional--personal parts that may have sprung up.

Loki

Loki watched the healer do his work with little interest. The process was fascinating, but she couldn't see most of it, so she left herself to studying Zai's body. It was scarred all to hell, and Loki really wanted to ask him about it. She decided that she would, but later. Right now he was in pain, and it probably wasn't the best time for life stories. Loki was very curious though and didn't know how long she could hold the question in. The process was soon over and Zai was given some tea. Why didn't the man give her any tea? They left the healer's, Zai's with a dressed wound and Loki with a broken heart. And frustration. Was she not good enough to get tea? The new trouble was enough to push Loki's question about Zai's scars out of her mind, as she pondered the various reasons why she might not be good enough for tea. She looked at Zai's mouth, wondering how it tasted. She licked her lips in jealousy. Suddenly, Loki's favorite firebender burst out of a tree and into another. "Hey! Look at that! Wonder if she's running or exercising." Loki cantered while pointing to the trees. She wasn't really wondering though. Her facial features were caught in a mix of fear and intrigue, and she wondered what could cause such a hurried flight. Did have something to do with the smoke in the distance? Her curiosity was peaked.

Mood: Curious Condition: Fine

The anger in Nokomi's voice was justified and there was no response that would undo all the damage that been done. However, that conversation would be for another time as his mission came first; though separating the two would prove to be an interesting endeavor. Before any more words could escape either of their mouth's the sky lit up due to the flames erupting from Nokomi. Tensei would have preferred not to give his identity as a fire bender away in the middle of the Earth Kingdom but if he wanted to avoid being burned there was little choice at this point. With a powerful step forward the General would whip both of his arms forward unleashing a torrent of fire that would cancel out his sisters. The ensuing smoke would more than likely draw a crowd in a few minutes, and Tensei had no intentions of sticking around.

The sound of feet bouncing off of tree branches alerted the man to his targets location who was making a hasty getaway in the tree line. With no affinity for tree-hopping Tensei would stick to the flattened path in his pursuit which was headed back in the direction of the healer's house. The smoke would surely alert Tensei's men to the happenings and he hoped that they would be ready to act when he returned. Attempting to talk Nokomi out of of her rage as she traversed the trees probably wouldn't work and would surely lead to more attacks, and with the pair getting ever closer to the center of the village he didn't want to endanger the lives of innocents, and more importantly alert the rest of her group. They would probably act with as much haste as Nokomi which would only lead to more trouble, and worst case scenario the two groups dueling it out in the middle of the village.

Loki

Loki took her sail out, grabbed each corner, and was about to take off, when she noticed Zai just...jogging. She floated over to him and tried to look as relaxed as possible. "Man. Flying is so nice." Loki yelled with an exaggerated tone, "Would you like a lift? Your wound just got treated, wouldn't want any bigger problems." Loki looked behind her and noticed some people were hot on Nokomi's tail. Of course, Nokomi was pretty far ahead by now. She looked at Zai's sad little job with the face of a concerned mother. "You're coming whether you want to or not." Loki decided. She flew over Zai's head and started trying to grab him with her legs, but it was rather hard. Maybe Zai would get sick of getting kicked accidentally and just grab on.

Mood: Concerned Condition: Fine

What his sister lacked in conversation skills she made up with in speed and apparently the ability to jump through trees. Though she had begun to pull away from Tensei the two who had tagged along for this mission were farther up ahead and would make sure to take note of her direction to continue the chase. As he neared the town he noticed the remaining two in her group were also making their leave, with one seemingly flying while the other hobbled; it was quite the site actually. The General would meet up with his two men a bit past the healers building in full stride who quickly filled him in on what direction his sister was headed, though the two who had traveled with her were in his sights and would surely lead Tensei right to her.

The burning house seemed primed to fall at any moment which was something the soldier had no intentions of sticking around for. Instead, he would lead his group far to the left to avoid the situation all together, and once clear of the building which had surely crumbled to pieces by now, would continue on the path. Attempting to get any of their attention at this point would be a difficult task, and Tensei didn't want to start an international incident in the middle of the Earth Kingdom which left either continuing to tail the group or shouting them to a stop in an effort to explain what all was going on.

"Hey you two, I know this looks bad but I'm just trying to have a conversation with Nokomi... my sister!" He shouted at the pair in front of him while simultaneously blurring the line between mission and personal task. Tensei felt this necessary to establish valid reasoning as he doubted that in her haste to escape his sight she had failed to explain what exactly she was running from.

Loki

Zai finally tried grabbing on, but seemed to stumble from pain or delirium. He dragged Loki down for a bit until her let go. Loki realized that getting Zai to fly with her was hopeless and landed next to him. "Just go! I'll slow you down! I'll take care of myself!" Loki put her hand on Zai's shoulder, gripping it with a bit of force, "Oh come off it, I ain't leaving you yet." Loki looked around wondering what Anaja would be doing right now. Wasn't it her job to stop stuff like this from happening? As the pursuers approached, the leader claimed to be Nokomi's brother. Loki didn't believe it and trusted that Zai didn't either. She did a large, extravagant, mock bow and shouted over, "Oh great brother of Nokomi, you honor us with your presence!" Sarcasm dripped from every word. "Nokomi has told us so much about you! You know her, she's a real talker. Can't stop telling us about her life, you know? Oh, do tell us what brings us this honor!" The last word was stressed to new heights of drama, to prove she was mocking him. She didn't have her usual smirk though, this situation was complicated and dangerous.

Mood: Mocking Condition: Fine

The injured member of Nokomi's group seemed to have trouble being aided by the flying one due to his injury, which was something that could have aided Tensei had he any intention of fighting the trio, but since he didn't it served little purpose. Raised arms gave way to a second member of his sisters group stopping to aid the injured Zai, though she seemed a chip off the sarcastic block given the immense amount of bull-hockey that was spewing out of her mouth. Tensei didn't want to deal with these two as it would slow him down considerably.

However, the thought of stopping to actually talk to them and explaining the situation would possibly work. The chances of that working would be slim if the airbender continued her sarcastic ways, and the injured one might have been too delirious from his injury to pay attention. Nevertheless, getting around the two would not be an easy task in the least which made talking the only option left it seemed. The trio would slowly come to a halt a decent distance away from the pair, a slighted look given to the female before turning his attention to the male. "Your female companion's sarcasm aside, my words are true. She wouldn't have made mention of me because I left a few years back." He flatly said to the two.

"Not my proudest moment, but something that I intend to mend in due time. However, this was not the reason I came looking for Nokomi. She has certain talents that the military would like to utilize... with compensation if need be." The last part was thrown in purely for interest's sake. With each passing second Nokomi surely put more distance between herself and Tensei, though if he could convince the two standing in front of him to aid in his search then there wouldn't be as much of a problem tracking her down.

Loki

The trio was back together, and Loki slipped her dagger out of it's holding. She looked at Tensei, wondering what his move would be. It didn't seem that her or her friends were willing to start things off. Loki began floating off the ground slightly, out of habit more than anything. She furrowed her brows and shouted, "You can't win. We're much better than you." Loki's arrogance was now transposed to the entire group as she'd accepted them into a family of sorts. Loki was prideful and greedy, but she had loyalty going for her. She knew that powerful friends were the best things to have around, and the way to keep them was through trust and tenacity. She flicked the dagger down into a stabbing position, using her left hand to move it. She didn't want to drop it doing a cool flipping trick now.

Mood: Daring Condition: Fine

The twang and subsequent whistling of the arrows was more than enough to signal their incoming, and the two who had tagged along with Tensei made symmetrical spins before pushing their arms at an upward angle which sent out a stream of fire that, if not completely burning the arrows to a crisp would alter their trajectory enough to where they would not be an issue.

Their was obvious hesitation from the injured member of Nokomi's group which changed little in the big scheme of things. Though his assumptions of Tensei being a soldier were correct that didn't mean he was a ruthless killing machine; the General had decent speaking skills. He wasn't sure whether to respond or help the man up as he looked a few moments from keeling over in the middle of the path, but better judgement would tell him not to do so.

He would once again ignore the female's words as she had not heeded the memo of adult conversations. Tensei had no intention to fight, simply to talk, and he planned to see it through unless there were more unsolicited attacks. Which, judging from how eager the air-bender was to use the dagger in her hand, was definitely a possibility.

"All understandable. Nokomi and I's past has not been a smooth one, but I come not on matters of family, and if she took the time to listen instead of waste arrows then this conversation would end more quickly." He replied, the last part directed solely at his sister. Tensei knew she would be mad and wanted little to do with him, though there would be time to deal with that later. At the moment he was a representative of the Fire Nation who had a job to do, and he would do it well.

Loki

Loki was about to deny Nokomi's request to escape with Zai, when he did it for her. She was sure they could win this fight and knew she'd be at a disadvantage while flying away. She'd probably just get shot down. Zai voiced all of this for her, and Loki looked at the trio again. They seemed quite sure of themselves, and with Zai injured, the fight was a little more like 3 on 2. Loki subtly stepped in front of Zai in case their opponents tried to take out the weak link first. She looked at him reassuringly, but she thought about her own prowess. Loki was an incredibly weak airbender, only able to use it for silky and sly movements, any kind of powerful bending was incredibly difficult. She could assassinate, but in a head on fight like this, Loki would not be as powerful as a trained Fire Nation soldier. And now the fight seemed more like 3 on 1. Loki didn't let her hopelessness show on her face though. She still looked confident and arrogant as usual. Suddenly Anaja appeared out of nowhere. 3 on 2, maybe Loki and Zai made up a full person, so that would be 3 on 3. The fight did not look so one-sided now. Anaja seemed a bit nervous and out of her depth, but Loki did not doubt her Kyoshi training and expected her to be an adept combatant. The thought that a fight might not happen never occurred to Loki. The world did not seem to work that way.

Mood: Doubting Condition: Fine

Was she so blinded in rage to not even hear out the proposition? It seemed that was the case given her statement, though if she truly wanted her brother out of the way she would have continued running. But she stopped which meant deep down somewhere there was a part of her that wanted to hear her brother out. Tensei was aware of this fact and utilize the opportunity to actually explain what the offer was. He hoped that her companions would now believe that the two were related, albeit a bit one-sidedly, but kin none the less. "If you had no intentions of listening to me you would have continued running. I understand that you are mad and rightly so, but this offer transcends our family squabble for the time being. All I ask is that you make your judgement after hearing it." He replied in his usual tone that held little emotion to it.

Though he could not hear what the trio were whispering Tensei remained alert for any signs of attack. The air bender seemed far too eager to start an international conflict, and Nokomi would more than likely follow suit. While the General had no intentions of his own to attack the group, especially since they were already down a person, he would defend himself by whatever means necessary.

Then came a voice from his opposite side that held little authority considering how shaky it was. "Tch, another distraction." He muttered under his breath as he took notice of the painted warrior. She was odd looking for sure, but hopefully not stupid enough to attack. His gaze returned to the three standing before him as one of his companions kept an eye on the Kiyoshi warrior.