The Search for Pa Lakhti

Kano sat at the bar, sipping on the fruity slushy drink he'd been given for his two copper pieces. He was unrecognizable where he sat. He was wearing Earth Kingdom clothes of pale green. His face was hidden in the shadow of a hood and he was covered in a tattered cloak pinned at one shoulder by a medallion made of cheap iron. Not a single thing on him identified him as water tribe. He had even had the hilt of the saber on his hip replaced temporarily with a simple steel and leather outfit and a scabbard of dark brown leather, giving it a sort of cheap look that wasn't at all out of place with his general appearance right now. He hadn't even bothered to shave. Of course, bath houses and the like weren't exactly plentiful anywhere near the Si Wong Desert. The Oasis was no exception. Water was gold out there. No one bathes in gold. He, however, was there for a very different reason... and for a gold of a different kind.

A pair of Kyoshi Warriors entered the tavern. Kano had never quite gotten over being tortured by them. He had nothing to fear from these two. He hadn't done anything. But it didn't stop him from attempting to hide himself even deeper in his cloak. The thought that this must make him look very suspicious indeed had just popped into his mind a half second later when...

"You!" one of them said.

Kano sat there as the pair of warriors barked at him, trying to decide what to do. He needed to keep his identity a secret around here. The Earth Kingdom was technically an ally now, but that didn't stop them from being more than a little suspicious when another nation's leader was found within their borders for no apparent, or in this case given reason. He didn't need the headache or the attention.

"I said, what is your business in the Si Wong Desert?!" said the Kyoshi, tapping him on the shoulder, her and her comrades' eyes narrowed at him. There was nothing for it. He stood up and turned, prepared to just admit who he was and beg them, quietly of course, to keep it a secret, not that they would. If he was in the mood to bet on it, he'd have money on that sadist, Yu knowing about it by the end of the day.

But as he turned, he spotted a rather welcome sight, given the circumstances -- Zulera. He didn't know why she was out here and he didn't really care. Under the guise of scratching his head, he lifted his hood as he was turned toward her so that she could catch a glimpse of his face and know who he was, giving her the wink the group had used to signal one of the others to back their play on some con. It was funny how often the Avatar's travelling band had to game someone to get by. And then he turned the rest of the way toward the Kyoshis.

"You two should go while I still let you." he said in a growl of a voice. It sounded ridiculous to him because he knew the sound of his own voice, but he was sure it was convincing enough to at least sound like an actual voice someone would have.

"You are going to let us leave?" the second Kyoshi scoffed. "And who are you?"

"I'm... Derk the Sand-God!" he declared. He'd seen at least a dozen wanted posters for the man throughout Gaoling and the Oasis. He figured that'd be high profile enough to force Zulera to step in.

"You?!" the first Kyoshi laughed.

"Er.... BEHOLD MY POWER!!" Kano declared. He began going through the motions of sand-bending. He knew them well from years of studying scrolls on earthbending and the like. However, he was going to need an earthbender for this part. He really hoped Zulera was paying attention, or he was going to have to these two why he, a crazy person, should be allowed to go on around carrying a sword...

Kano watched the sand swirl around him and continued the movements as the two Kyoshis backed away a step, surprised. They weren't exactly afraid of him, but he could tell they had seriously doubted that he was who he said he was... they were right. A moment later, however, and their duty seemed to click into place. They drew their weapons and prepared to fight him into submission. He immediately went through the gestures of a technique meant to bend sand around something and then turn it into glass. In this case, he was hoping Zul would be able to figure out that he wanted to bind the two warriors with glass restraints and then they could act out having her 'save' them and then drag him off...

Well, either that was going to happen, or she was just going to beat the crap out of two Earth Kingdom warriors and give the entire legion a reason to track them all the way across the desert. He really hoped she would get the idea...

It was just about the hardest thing in the world, seeing an attack coming at you, knowing how to defend yourself, and letting it land anyway. He continued to 'sandbend' until the first punch hit his face, then another and a few more for good measure in the gut. Doubled over, coughing, clutching his stomach. This wasn't an act. She'd hit him with some serious power. He peeked up at the Kyoshis. He could just barely see them sitting on the ground a few feet away, struggling against their bonds.

"Drag me out!" he hissed to Zulera. Only she would have been able to hear him. They needed to get out of here quick before these people pointed out that Derk the Sand-God was actually a Sand-Goddess, or so her wanted posters claimed. It was a little detail he'd bet on them not knowing. Barely anyone pays attention to the small details of wanted posters asking for the capture of people out in the Si Wong. No one ever got the bounties for Si Wong dwellers.

"UGH!" he said loudly with a very genuine sounding groan (because it was a genuine groan), repeating that deep voice. "I yield, I yield! You're too much for me!"

The scary thing was... it seemed most of the people in the place were actually buying this crap.

"Could you possibly have hit me any harder?!" Kano said indignantly, straightening up, still massaging his stomach and face. "Seriously! Who needs to act when you actually get the shit kicked out of you by the very person who's supposed to be saving your ass from a beating?"

He shook off as much of the discomfort as he could, stretching his abdominal muscles, still a bit locked up from the strike, flexing his jaw every which way. He straightened up and removed his hood.

"What are you even doing here?" he asked, letting all appreciation fall by the wayside. He'd thank her later over something expensive. "I thought you were supposed to be meeting with and-or throwing your top at someone very important somewhere."

Okay, so he didn't keep tabs on Zulera. Who needed that aggravation? It was like trying to account for every drop of water that dripped off an iceberg.

Kano just watched her do it. Her shirt and bra hit him full on in the face and then fell to the ground. By the time they did so, however, he was wearing a look of complete and utter incredulous non-amusement. He just stared at her blankly with a look that clearly said he thought she just didn't have enough to do all day...

"My business is the business of the Aowaka Clan, Zul." he said finally, just turning and beginning to walk away. If he felt like seeing someone's breasts, he'd find a whorehouse somewhere. He could afford it. "You know," he stopped a few feet away and turned back, brandishing a finger at her. "Do you really expect me to believe that you were out here for just... no reason. 'Nothing important, just cuz.'"

He mimed her shrugging as he spoke and then tossed an invisible set of clothing in no direction in particular.

"You weren't half naked when you showed up." Kano corrected her, waving a hand at her as he walked away... or rather, walked in front of her. "You did that just to spite me and you know it."

He headed out to the edge of town with her on his tail, walking swiftly as he went. He had arranged for an eel-hound in Gaoling. It stood on the outskirts, eating fish from a large bucket. He was just about to climb up onto the beast when he paused, his hands resting on its leather straps.

"Are you going to tell me why you're really here or do you just want to keep it a secret?" he asked, looking around at her. "Because, for the life of me, I cannot imagine what it is you're after. All there is out there is mysteries and sand. I doubt even death likes crossing the Si Wong..."

"..." Kano looked around at Zulera, his hands still resting on the eel-hound's harness straps. "Isn't that funny? Here you are, out here sheerly by chance. We just happen to run into each other and you just happen to have even the slightest clue what I'm up to... Small world, eh?"

Shaking his head slightly, Kano pulled up his hood and mounted the eel-hound, taking up its reigns. He looked down at Zulera from his new perch. He considered her for a moment before speaking again.

"If you're coming, then you and I need to get something straight." he said. There wasn't a whole lot of point to keeping his voice down. Nobody in this area gave a toss for the kinds of treasures that their destination hid. "We aren't after some library."

Kano shook his head slightly, chuckling to himself. She was nothing if not shameless. Finally, he nodded jerked his head in a way that was meant to tell her to mount up and said: "Get on."

The two of them rode for hours through the desert. The eel-hound was suited to this sort of thing. It was quick, quick enough that if they weren't in direct sunlight, they could count on the speed to bring a cool enough breeze to keep them from dehydrating. Across the dunes they went, swiftly and with purpose. Somewhere, far across the desert, the forgotten forest stood, hiding centuries later the great kingdom the Water Tribes once called home. It would take them days to get anywhere close to the place. They would have to travel through wilds and the earthen crags of the Wall of the Sun, an ancient cliff that was said to hid a passage into the forest, hidden in the heart of the mountains beyond. It would not be an easy journey...

As night fell, Kano decided it was about time that they grab some sleep. He managed to find a small collection of stone sticking out of the sea of sand and decided to make camp. By the time the sun had set, they had a fine little fire going with wood and tinder he had brought along in the supplies. He had even managed to find a piece of burn-rock at the markets. It was a prized commodity in the Fire Nation for its ability to burn for days in some cases without end, yet it would go out like a light if you buried it for a few moments. He put it in the center of the fire and set it alight with a flint and steel set he had bought. They managed to enjoy some seal jerky and a skin of water over the flames. However, the meal had been mostly quiet...

"So what happened after I left the Western Air Temple?" he asked finally as they both sat there, staring at the fire. Behind them, the eel-hound had laid down and gone to sleep hours ago. He'd been a bit curious about what the team had done after he left. It had been a hard decision. For months, they'd been his family. Leaving them was almost unbearable. But... he had a destiny elsewhere that he couldn't ignore. Funny how the universe schemed to bring all things full circle...

"Two battles." Kano said. "We managed to route the Fire Nation 3rd Fleet in the central sea and we headed off an assault on the Southern Water Tribe by the 5th Fleet shortly afterward, but we took casualties. The Fire Nation's been deploying chi-blockers in there fleets recently. They seem to have a particular interest in Aowaka Clansmen. If I didn't know any better, I'd say someone tipped them off to... well, you know."

Bryn the Hammer Wolf and Kayoku the Alpha were two of the Aowaka Clan's most distinguished warriors. During the Battle of the South Sea, both had been targeted seemingly specifically by Fire Nation forces and had died at the hands of chi-blockers. Though they won the battle ultimately, the cost to the clan had been terrible indeed. There were only so many Aowaka masters around. He had managed to convince the Council of Elders that it was imperative that he find the secret they needed protecting the clansmen, who, after all, were a large and authoritative segment of the officer corps of the tribes. If he was able to find it, it meant protecting the lives of seven-hundred men, women, and children all across the world...

"I convinced the elders that I knew where the secret to eliminating that weakness was." he said finally. "I might have... exaggerated."

"That's good to hear." Kano smiled, nodding. It was true that he hadn't been exactly truthful about his ability to acquire the information they needed, but he was hardly on a wild goose-cat chase. He truly did believe that if the information existed anywhere, it existed where they were headed. He looked up at Zul, his eyes narrow, then decided it was as good a time as any to tell her what they were after.

"What do you know about the ancient city of Pa Lahkti?" he asked.

OOC: Sorry for the length.

"It was a city." Kano said. "The first great city of the Water Tribes. For seven-hundred years, it was the capitol of knowledge and science in the world. It was called the City of Blue Stone. And it was the location of the single largest repository of ancient bending knowledge in history. Even Wan Shi Tong's library was no competition in this respect. It is said that Wan Shi Tong was so jealous of the vast knowledge held in Pa Lahkti that he enchanted the foxes who guarded the forest around the city to steal the knowledge for him and bring it back to his library in the desert."

Kano considered what would be best to explain next. There was a lot to choose from. He figured, though, that sticking with the most relevant item was probably best. And so he decided to focus on the issue of the library. If she didn't know there was enough gold supposedly held in the city's vaults to rebuild the walls of Ba Sing Se in twenty-four karats already, he wasn't about to clue her in. They weren't on a relic-snatching trip...

"Pa Lahkti was the capitol of a Water Kingdom which ruled everything from the Si Wong to the sea in the north and Gaoling in the south. The Earth Kingdom owned everything to the west of that empire to the central sea. When the conqueror King Bao destroyed the Water Kingdom, Avatar Aowaka led an exodus from Pa Lahkti to the North Pole, where he and the other leaders of the now defeated kingdom formed the Northern Water Tribe. Pa Lahkti was abandoned, hidden forever in the mountains far to the east of where we are now. Since then, there's a decent chance that it's remained untouched."