Training with a master

Ready for you nakkoa

"Remind me again, Foumei, as to why we're traveling across this forsaken wasteland again."

A brown-haired girl with double buns atop her head looked over at her journeying partner and flushed a little, "We're headed to Gaoling remember Zhu-Rong? To speak with Major General Bo Lai and gain reports on their station."

Zhu-Rong slid her dark ruby eyes over at Foumei and cracked a wry smile, "Are you sure Foumei? If I remember correctly you wanted to come here to purchase yourself a nice Ao Dai. Am I right? Or has my memory failed me once again?" She watched with satisfaction as the latter focused on the path ahead of them and flushed. Zhu-Rong's wry smile grew into a smirk, "Exactly."

The duo continued along the edge of the gargantuan canyon in silence, save for the rhythmic cantering of the large ostrich-horses that they rode on. Foumei reached up and pulled at the collar of her dark green uniform and made a face, sighing. The blistering dry heat of the Great Divide was becoming insufferable for her.

"Lieutenant," Zhu-Rong all but snapped, "This is the fortieth time you've sighed since we started across this canyon. Do you have something you'd like to share with me?"

Foumei knew a demand when she heard one, "It's just that it's so hot! You'd think that General Yu would at least let us travel in something light. But no, we had to wear this ridiculously heavy Kyoshi garb!" The lieutenant blew through her nose and pouted, earning a slight chuckle from her superior.

"I'd rather dress up as a Dai Li, at least they get to wear a Nón lá."

The Major nodded subconsciously, because she was right. While they both had to wear the ridiculously heavy uniform for both factions at the least the Dai Li agents were allowed to wear those wide-rimmed hats. Not only did it conceal their faces but it sure enough blocked out the merciless glare from the sun. This had gotten the Major to wondering in the Spirits had they been thinking by giving them stupid head-pieces instead of a Nón lá.

'Maybe Avatar Kyoshi and her daughter were more into fashion than anything else at that time.' Imagining the rough and tumble avatar prancing around in customary silk made her snort and her shoulders slumped. Zhu-Rong slapped a hand over her mouth and blinked several times to quell the tears forming in her eyes. Foumei, who was too busy fiddling with her tight collar, looked over at her superior awkwardly.

"Ah Zhu.? What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing."Snort.

The Lieutenant's eyebrows rose and continued rising until they disappeared into her hairline. Confused and secretly worried for her superior's sanity, Foumei encouraged her ostrich-horse further and left the topic alone, still unconvinced.


"Alright we'll set up and rest here for a while. We'll pick up traveling again when the sun starts to set, by then it'll be much cooler. There's a spring north of us that we can use, but no settlements." Zhu-Rong paced around in a small circle and stopped when she reached Bao, her ostrich-horse. She slung her messenger bag onto the ground and, taking a solid stance, bent the earth into benches for them to rest on. Foumei led both of their beasts over to random clusters of grass and allowed them to graze before joining Zhu-Rong to overlook the canyon.

"You know I always forget how you can do that? But then I kick myself in the pants and remember that you're an earthbender. You have that weird connection with mother nature and whatever."

Zhu-Rong pulled her fist back and punched Foumei lightly in the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?!"
Zhu-Rong rolled the sleeves of her uniform up to her elbows and whistled innocently. She promptly ignored Foumei and set off in the direction to find the water springs, skin bottles handy. Foumei groaned and grabbed two more water-skins before trailing after her partner.

"You know Foumei I'm beginning to wonder about your character. You whine too much for my taste." Came the wry quip. Foumei huffed and shoved her. Zhu-Rong was about to punch her in the arm again when a slight rumbling caught her attention. She stomped her foot on the ground and scanned the wide plains of the canyons. her mouth pressed into a grim line.

As usual, Foumei had no idea as to what was going on, "Major...what the heck??"

"We're not alone."

Hiro was lost, he had been in this giant, bare canyon for nearly a whole week, and had come to the conclusion that he was lost. He was glad that the traveller, he had met just before entering the canyon, had given him extra water skins otherwise he would have passed out days ago, however the water skins only delayed the inevitable. He had been unprepared and had underestimated the dangers that the he would face, and as a result was now stuck. He hadn't met any people in the great divide, in fact he hadn't met anyone since he left Omashu and had to say good bye to the two fire nation siblings, Rin and Ryo, who he now saw as one of his close friends. Just thinking about them caused an ache in his heart, he couldn't bare the thought of not seeing Itamatsu again, he had to tell her how much he cared about her. He would push through for them.

oooooOOOOOOooooo

It seemed that the sun's heat bore down on him even more harshly than before. He could feel the heat getting to him. His eyesight became blurry. "NO, this is not how I will end, I have to keep on going," however the heat proved to much for him and he collapsed to his knees. His vision fading, in a last desperate attempt he tried to pull himself up but fell down in a heap. He could hardly stop his eyes from closing "NO,NO,NOOOOO" he banged his fist on the ground, the earth shook around him sending a vibration in all directions. He couldn't hold on and allowed himself to give into the darkness.

Both soldiers squinted and spotted a small dot in the distance. At first it was standing and then it seemed to have fallen over on the ground. Foumei let out a short gasp and rushed to cover her mouth with her hand. Zhu-Rong looked down at her slightly shorter companion and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you on about now Foumei?"

The Lieutenant shoved her hands into her flowing sleeves, "The dot thing....we have to help it." She set her jaw in a tight line and looked up at her superior expectantly. The only response she received was a risen eyebrow.

"It could have been a tree for all we know, or a dingy canyon crawler."
"Or it could be a person!"
"Lieutenant it's not a person-"
Foumei huffed and gave her a flat stare, "YES it is...can't you do that thing with your feet or something?"
The Major sighed.
"DO IT!"

Foumei shied away under Zhu-Rong's deadly glare and held up a waterskin bottle, hiding behind it nervously. Nevertheless the major slid a foot out of her shoe and stomped on the ground. Vibrations spanning the size of an entire football field covered their side of the canyon and bounced back. Zhu-Rong frowned and stuffed her foot back into her shoe, glaring at the accursed dot in the distance.

Foumei blinked when her superior turned around and headed back to camp. "Uh Taishou? Where are you going?"

"Going to pick up your little charity case."


Powerful talons clicked against the grounds and stirred up whirlwinds of dust as they raced across the canyon side. Black and Brown hair whipped freely in the stiff breeze of the hot, arid lands. They were a quarter of a mile across the canyon when Zhu-Rong nearly galloped over the dot, whom turned out to be a boy.

Foumei leaned over her saddle and took a gander at him, "How long do you think he's been out here Major? A few days?"

Zhu-Rong hopped off of Bao and circled around the soon-to-carcass. She nudged the boy rather roughly with the tip of her shoe and moved to turn him over so she could get a better look at him. When she did, she frowned; the kid was probably no more than 16 or so, at least he looked the part.

"I'd say more than that Lieutenant. Unfortunately he's still alive, and he needs water."

"UNFORTUNATELY??"Foumei asked, incredulously,"Major Ai how is that unfortunate?"

Zhu-Rong slid her eyes from the [strikethrough]carcass[/strikethrough] boy to her subordinate and narrowed them slightly. Slowly she moved from a crouching position to a standing one and folded her arms.

"In case your brain checked out during our briefing yesterday, we were dispatched on urgent business. Do you know what urgent means? I hope you do Lieutenant, because I'm beginning to believe that you don't. We're already thwarted by human limitations,not to mention we have to cross through a treacherous canyon come nightfall and to put the icing on the fruit pie........we have a charity case to look after. Do you realize what all of this means Lieutenant?"

"We're......We're horribly behind schedule?"

Zhu-Rong's expression went dark, Bingo. Stand here and watch the kid while I go fill up the water pouches."

Foumei nodded sharply and then gave her a confused look, "Wait....isn't that a small oasis right there?" Zhu-Rong nodded.
"So....you mean to tell me...?"

"That he managed to pass out by a water source that was in his face the entire time? Yes. 'Bout dumb as dirt, isn't he?"

Hiro woke to a pain in his head. He opened his eyes only to close them again due to the sun shining into them. He opened them again more slowly, tilting his head downwards to avoid the sun. He looked towards the ground and noticed two things, one was that he was at least a metre off the ground, the second was that the ground was moving. He tried to turn himself around but found himself attached to what seemed like an ostrich-horse. He was able to make out the silhouette of the rider. The head garment the rider wore identified them as a Kyoshi Warrior. The pain in his head grew worse, but he forced himself to remain conscious. He instead chose to close his eyes and tried to rest until the rider stopped.