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Lake Town Futas (Koibito & ☢Utsuho☢)	Despite their differences, the two were like peas in a pod. Above all they had one shared passion and that was fucking getting their dicks drained, having their pussies stuffed, sucking and fucking was the one thing they believed in most and they shared that together constantly.Now under Rumia, she had made a throne out of the schoolgirl on her hands and knees, and the two jocks held by skeleton hands who were now fucking the hell out of the girl from either side of their own free horny will, her mouth and pussy stuffed full of cock. As she was attacked Rumia acted quick with a summon, a demon girl who tripped the girl up to bend her over before invading her ass."Augh!" She screamed as she was penetrated by ethereal demon cock. Her ass gripped tight around the invading length, her eyes rolling back as she looked up lustfully at the goth futa.Mito grinned seeing her friend was safe, though getting caught seemed to just mean they would try to fuck back. Not a bad time she figured... But she still wanted to win. The pink haired girl got jumped by one of the guys, but a quick blowjob sent him to the ground.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Avatar Book 1: Water 100AG North PoleIt had been a long two days of flight for Team Avatar and Appa was clearly getting tired as the large flying Bison was losing altitude and was nearly skimming the water. The air was much colder and there were spiky icebergs in the water around them. In Haruko's opinion the ice looked more spiky then it should almost like they were defenses and not natural. But her thoughts were interrupted when Sokka began complaining once more."Can't Appa fly any higher?"Sokka whined."How would you like to carry all of us on your back?"Aang, the newest Avatar snapped back. The long trip was starting to wear on the group, they were all tired."Sure, everyone hop on the Sokka express!"Sokka quipped back as Momo jumped on his back."Alright enough you two, we're all just tired from traveling for two days straight without rest."Katara finally cut in.Sokka began complaining how they would never find the Northern Water Tribe as Haruko tuned him out as she remembered their amazing journey so far. She didn't know about how Sokka and Katara had found Aang as she hadn't joined them until they had visited Kyoshi Island, where she had washed up weeks before the arrival of the Avatar. Haruko had been the youngest Captain in the Fire Nation Military and a prodigy Firebender. Her skills at the time had been unmatched by anyone else, not that it was a surprise as she was the Great Granddaughter of Avatar Roku, making her the second cousin to Prince Zuko and Princess Azula. Her unit had been sent into the Earth Kingdom to subdue a group of powerful Earthbenders that had been ambushing Fire Nation patrols. When her Commander had ordered her to burn down a village where the Benders were suspected to be hiding. She refused because of the risk to the innocent civilians that lived there, she didn't might fighting those who could defend themselves, but attacking helpless civilians was wrong. Her mother had raised her to follow the path of Avatar Roku, which meant she protected those who couldn't defend herself no matter what Nation they were from. When she refused her Commander's orders he passed the order to another and Haruko had blocked the Army's path, even attacking and injuring her Commander. She was then taken prisoner and her unit set up camp in a near by Fire Nation outpost where she was chained and lashed with fire whips for several days. During that time she lost the will to use her Firebending.Eventually, Haruko couldn't be sure how long it had been, General Iroh had shown up unexpectedly at the outpost. He had heard that Earthbenders were planning to attack the outpost and freed Haruko, saying she had done the right thing. She had been too weak from her torture and imprisonment to escape on her own so Iroh had put her on an Ostrich Horse, given her supplies including her Captain's uniform and sent her to a ship that was waiting in a near by port. Iroh then went on his way to rejoin his Nephew and that very night Earthbenders destroyed the outpost killing all Fire Nation Soldiers stationed their. Which left only two people from the Fire Nation who knew of Haruko's actions. She had made it to the ship, but during a storm the ship had sank and she washed up on Kyoshi where she recoved from the torture. However, because she had lost the will to firebend she couldn't fully control her bending as she had before.When Aang and his friends had shown up she had decided to join them. Despite their distrust of the Fire Nation she had gained their trust because of her actions and continued to gain their trust during their travels most notably when they had visited Roku's Temple in the Fire Nation and she had helped them escape. Luckily at the time only one monk had recognized her so the Fire Nation still believe her to be dead along with the rest of her unit. With her uniform she had been able to get them out of a few tight spots and even gain valuable information from Fire Nation Soldiers. It still amazed her how the word of Aang had eased much of the tension around her heritage to people the met, at least the ones who realized she was Fire Nation. Now they had finally made it to the North Pole and their journey to find a Master Waterbender was almost at an end. Over the course of their journey she had regain her confidence but not her will, she could maintain her heat and do minor Firebending, but to fully use her abilities it required both the ConfidenceandWill to do it.Haruko sat up as a spear flew over Appa followed by another."I'd say we found the Northern Water Tribe."she said as she sat up and suddenly realized she wasn't dressed for the cold. Her inner warmth from being a Firebender kept her warm so she hadn't realized how cold it was and that she should probably be wearing a coat."They're going to know I'm Fire Nation...."she whispered to the others as they were lead to the Northern Capital. While she was the oldest of the group she had to rely on Aang and the others to keep her out of any local jails simply because she was Fire Nation."Don't worry so much, you're with the Avatar... if worse comes to worse we can say you're our prisoner."Sokka replied which got a glare from his sister."Don't listen to him... everything will be fine,"Katara added. Haruko wasn't exactly convinced that this would go very smoothly. Soon they were passing through the gate into the large city. Sokka and Katara were amazed by the stark differences between the Northern and Southern water tribes. Haruko felt as if everyone was staring at her, but she hoped the looks were directed at Aang, he was the Avatar after all. While she wasn't in normal Fire Nation attire, she wasn't dressed for the cold either, something she knew wouldn't go unnoticed for long even if she stayed near Aang. She had become a sort of de facto bodyguard for Aang, but that still didn't save her from sneers or worse from those who knew she was Fire Nation at least until they learned about how she had saved an Earth Kingdom Village. Even them some didn't trust her at all without Aang's word.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	They were lining the streets all the way to the palace. The Avatar was visiting the Northern Kingdom the water tribe as a whole seemed above ecstatic. Many hardly paid Haruko a third or even fourth look after all didn't the Avatar need learn all bending?Those that did give extra looks her way, including a young woman on a boat who seemed merely to take a double take, and promptly got Sokka's attention that he was suddenly watching her and the boat go up the river from the platypus like tail of the flying Bison, might have given a few cold or icy looks."This city is absolutely gorgeous!"Katara mused to Haruko and Aang, the latter seemed to take notice of a group of men practicing... Ice bending? He tilted his head, watching the class and gently elbowed both females to take a look, pointing with his head in a conspicuous manner to not seem rude."She certainly is..."Sokka mused, obviously lovestruck, and not paying attention.A barking seal with a scar over it's right eye brought the parade to a stop, as Appa made a grunt of some kind, and refused to proceed. A girl of 17, although a few inches smaller than Katara came into view in the middle of the road."The Avatar is welcome, but not her!"She hissed angrily, pointing at Haruko with a shaking finger."How dare you doom us by bringing the Fire Nation here!"Two men were coming through the crowd but they'd be too late to stop what was to come. The gauntlet was thrown.Katara hopped down."Who do you think you are to say someone isn't welcome?"This got Sokka's attention, and he was back to the front.Lumikki eyed the taller girl and scoffed, as she took a defensive stance. Everyone knew what that meant, and the center of the street cleared."Name's Lumikki, little girl,"Little?! I'm taller than her!Katara thought, aggravated, taking a similar defensive stance."I Iive here and I mean to keep breathing. Her kind... Her 'nation'... Brings death and destruction wherever they go. Fact. Another fact. You're a traitor to your people."A fluid motion of hands, arms and feet, and suddenly Katara was hit by a deluge that would have knocked even many waterbenders off their feet.Sokka snickered that this upstart thought that would do anything to Katara."Hehe. Katara may be all wet... But just watch..."They would, and so would Master Pakku and Chief Arnook, arriving just in time for the Southern Tribe member's retaliation... And it was all a fight over Haruko, who Lumikki didn't know, nor did she know her recent past. It was high time Lumikki was taught discipline... The hard way.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko had sat up as they entered the city, though she would have much rather gone unnoticed. She was shocked that they didn't get the usual jeers when they noticed her. It was a small reminder that the war hadn't effected the Northern Water Tribe as much as it did the Earth Kingdom or even the Southern Water Tribe. Of course if anything changed that it was more likely to be the fact that Aang was here and not her. After all, back home they probably thought she was dead. She wouldn't know just how right that thought was until they ran into Fire Nation Soldiers or Commanders that knew her, like Zhao. Pushing the thought aside she took a calming breath and watched as they made their way towards the palace."Aang... elbow me again and you'll be drown before you find a master."she muttered through grit teeth. She didn't mean any harm by it, and Aang probably knew that, but it was easy to annoy her, being Fire Nation and all. Though usually her anger or annoyance was directed at Sokka, who seemed to be more then a little distracted at the moment.As they stopped she heard the comment directed at her and she frowned. It wasn't unexpected as most people said the same thing when they found out who she really was. Before she could say anything Katara had already started moving, there was no stopping her now."Katara wait... it's not worth it!"she called after the waterbender of their group. But it was too late, Katara's anger had been triggered as she was drenched and she created her water whip a second later and was lashing it at the other girl."You'll pay for that!"Katara yelled as she took a few swings with the whip before attempting a bigger attack, this time with a wave of water directed at Lumikki from the right."Aang, you're the Avatar do something!"Haruko said as she motioned towards the fight."Like what?"Aang asked, he seemed to be enjoying the display."Like stop them.... They aren't going to listen to me!"Haruko replied with a huff.'Even though I'm an adult'she added to herself, but that's pretty much how it always was."I think you underestimate yourself."Aang answered simply. It was pretty clear he wasn't going to step between two fighting waterbenders at least not without backup."Fine!"Haruko snapped as she jumped down from Appa and landed in front of Katara, catching her arm mid attack, causing the water she had been bending to fall harmlessly. Though Haruko didn't look to see if the attack had even landed. For good measure she shot a small and rather pitiful burst of flames on the ground between the two waterbenders, where it had no chance to hit either."That's enough! I'm no spy nor am I a member of the Fire Nation Military anymore. I protect the Avatar and I'd gladly give my life to do so."she said as she let go of Katara and stood up straight as Aang landed in front of her blocking any incoming waterbending attacks with his airbending."What she says is true... She was imprisoned and tortured for refusing to attack a defenseless Earth Kingdom village and even defending it from her Commander. She escaped the outpost before it was destroyed by Earthbenders, then joined us after she recovered. Without her we wouldn't have made it this far. What's more, she's Avatar Roku's Great Granddaughter."Aang spoke to the gathered crowd. Haruko cringed slightly, mostly unnoticed, as Aang mentioned her last days as a Fire Nation Captain. She didn't like thinking about it, much less talking about it or having others mention it. She also didn't think it was necessary to mention her heritage.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	The Northern Tribesmen even knew not to get involved in any fight Lumikki was a part of. Her skills exceeded many of them. As if stopping a real whip with her arm, she grew even more self confident, until blindsided by the wave. Standing pigeon toed, just as drenched as Katara, she listened, and for once, but maybe because Katara had done the one thing many men couldn't.... She got through Lumi's defenses, Lumi REALLYlistened. Or maybe it was because the Avatar was speaking. Whatever the case, she just stood there staring open mouthed at Haruko. At least she was blinking...Master Pakku asided quietly to the chief." That is exactly why women should not learn to be warriors. Too emotional. Although, for the first time..."He looked at Katara. The chief could only nod. Pakku approached the group with a slow clap."Pitiful performance with the fire, but quite effective. If you truly do guard the Avatar, I do hope it's with the sword."he said first to Haruko, with a nod."Not as pitiful as the emotional outburst of one of our most formidable waterbenders though. She WILL make it good."He looked at Aang"You have traveled far to seek a master to teach you waterbending? We shall talk more at the feast"Sokka made a remark about Pakku having ice running through his veins quietly to Katara which earned him a sharp elbow in the ribs from her and a glare from Aang. Pakku raised an eyebrow as he eyed Katara. Was there a hint of a smile? Lumikki shook her head."Well, he's no traitor, either. He's just a blinking idiot."she sighed. She'd have plenty of time to get to know Aang and company, as she was set between Haruko and Katara at the feast table... Of course Sokka got the coveted seat next to the young lady he had seen riding the boat, and now learned was Princess Yue, Chief Arnook's ready to be wed daughter. Sokka constantly had foot in mouth disease, as usual, until he tired of filet of insole, and tried some real food.Meanwhile, Lumikki tried to be more hospitable. She glanced at Haruko."Avatar Roku. Good legacy."She uneasily cleared her throat and looked at Katara."Could give you a few pointers on how to be more effective with the whip. You won't need the back up wave... Unless you're flanked, of course."Haruko would know what Lumikki meant. She shot Master Pakku a glance to see if he was watching, and continued quietly to Katara,"Just don't let Master Pakku know where you got the lessons."What seemed an odd, offhanded comment now, would make sense later.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko glared at the old man as he approached and commented about her bending. What did he know about Firebending, if he really was a Waterbending master then he should know what was needed to effectively bend that element."I'd like to see you bend better after going through what I have,"she snapped in reply."Moreover, as you don't know what Firebending requires, I'd refrain from commenting on things you don't know old man."she finished, glaring at the man. He would be shocked by her skills when she regained her will to bend fire again. Though she doubted that would ever happen, Aang had only recently learned how much will affected Fire Bending over the other elements. She glanced briefly at Sokka, with a look that said one thing to the wannabe leader, behave.With a sigh she followed the group into the palace, despite thecoldwelcome, the promise of food after two days of nothing but traveling was a welcome one. Though Haruko wished she had a chance to change into nicer clothes for the feast. She might not be a Captain in the Military anymore, but she was still a Noble Woman and related to one of the most important figures in history, so she still expected to maintain some form of decorum and formality. While her current clothes weren't bad, she would normally have worn something more formal for such a welcome feast. Once inside she made sure Katara was seated next to Aang, one of her many "match maker" moments, which Aang pretended not to notices, but it was clear her was grateful for the Firebender's efforts. This left Haruko sitting next to Sokka as he tried, and failed to flirt with Princess Yue. She had to give the Princess credit because she seemed generally interested and even amused by Sokka's efforts.She frowned when her Great Grandfather was mentioned once more."I suppose, but it was unnecessary information... Don't get me wrong, I am honored to be related to him. But I am not his only decedent. Besides I dishonored him by joining an Army that is willing to kill innocent people.... I was proud to be the youngest Captain in the Fire Nation Army. Then I learned the truth about what's going on in this war and became ashamed... I couldn't just standby and let innocent people be killed... there weren't even any Earthbenders in that village..."Haruko said with a sigh. She hadn't realized everyone at their table or within earshot was listening until she paused and glanced around."But why am I telling you this... I don't even know you."and with that Haruko was silent for the time being. Of course she knew Roku was proud of her, he had said as much, through Aang at the temple on his island.Katara, despite knowing of Haruko's past couldn't help but listen as the woman she and the others of Team Avatar had come to trust so much spoke. Once Haruko became silent and clearly had no intention of speaking again Katara turned her attention back to Lumikki."Don't take it hard, Haruko doesn't really trust easy any more."she commented in a low voice."But you really think I can improve my whip? I thought I was pretty good with it."she finally replied to the earlier comments made about her style."What do you mean? Why would he care?"she added looking confused by the comment about Master Pakku. What did it matter that Aang had helped her with her bending while Haruko had offered a bit of advice regarding emotions and form, after reading the scrolls they had stolen from pirates.None of them know Admiral Zhao was on his way to the North Pole with the largest Fire Nation fleet ever gathered and would arrived in only a few days time.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Maybe Katara had read something more in Lumikki's look, or Lumi's disappointment was blatantly clear, after her little show earlier in the afternoon. Maybe because I normally get all my facts first, and enlightening me in all of them about you will help me understand you better."Lumi shrugged, after Katara reassured her. She heard Katara's questions but waited, again until Pakku's attention was elsewhere."I'll clue you ladies in right now, that it will never matter to Master Pakku what you bend. You're female, so automatically too emotional. To get his respect, you have to be on top of your game. I was one of the few females he trained, until I had a slipup with my ice bending and injured Iceberg. I was so distraught, he cut me immediately, and swore he'd never train another 'girl'. Why do you think there are only men at this ice show he's sponsored? I'm not welcome in his class unless it's to see if a man is worthy of learning ice. I'm there only to spar with his trainees."She looked at Aang."I don't want to face off against the Avatar, because it's not right. We're on the same side. Besides, you should mop up the floor with me with only a few lessons, so please, for both our sakes, don't cross him."Aang looked puzzled. He had noticed Lumikki was willing to advise Katara, but advise wasn't train. He finally shrugged in agreement, 'chickening out' as it were, on telling Lumi to train Katara. He had that authority as the Avatar.Katara was frowning even more."So you had an accident, so what? So you got emotional when you accidentally hurt your pet... So WHAT? So, women are not allowed to show emotions if they want to fight with water?"Lumikki shook her head."You misunderstand me, Katara. The only emotion Northern Warriors are allowed is correctly placed righteous anger... As long as it's not directed at him, because in his eyes, exclusion based on gender and emotions is right. Go against that, your anger is no longer 'righteous', to him. I might have been the last straw on that, but what would I have known at 12?"She took a deep breath."Better to hear it from me, but 'women are only allowed to use their bending skills for healing'."Although said gently, one could tell it was a Pakku quote.Aang frowned. He looked at Katara then Lumikki."Then YOU train her."Lumikki nodded,"Only if you can't convince Master Pakku to."It was almost like she took a cue from Haruko, and was also playing 'matchmaker'.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko scuffed as she heard Lumikki's comment about why she would share information about herself. That had not been her intention, she had only meant to comment that it didn't matter if they knew who her Great Grandfather was. But as they say, whats done is done, she would not be making the same mistake a second time. Of course she could say she didn't care what others thought all she wanted, it still bothered her that people distrusted her just because she was a Firebender and from the Fire Nation. Jet had been the perfect example of what happened to people when they distrusted and hated someone so much. They became blind to everything around them, aside from their obsessions. Of course her Army had never given anyone a reason to trust her Country but it was her goal to prove not all of them were back. Like General Jeong Jeong and General Iroh or even her own mother and Ursa, mother of Zuko and Azula, there were good people among all the bad like Admiral Zhao. At the mention that this Master Pakku wouldn't respect her because of her gender she nearly laughed, it would have been a dark laugh."I don't care if your Master Pakku respects me or not. He can't be a true master if he doesn't realize Bending is governed by emotion. Feel fear and you can't bend period, unsure of yourself and your bending will be weak and uncontrolled, feel too much anger and your bending becomes a danger not just to your enemy but yourself as well. If you don't have the Will to do it, well it's not going to happen, especially Firebending which requires the most will to control. If he wants to judge anyone, he should look in a mirror and realize hes a bigot and no better then people like Admiral Zhao or Fire Lord Ozai."Haruko replied, loud enough for the target of her comments to hear her. Then she pushed her plate aside,"If you'll excuse me Chief Arnook, Princess Yue, I had my fill of self centered, bigots like him when I was a Captain in the Fire Nation Army."she added as she stood and left the table."Aang, if you need me I'll be near enough to respond if there's danger."she commented before walking away. If she had the will to use her firebending she would show Master Pakku just what she thought of him and his beliefs. She hoped Aang or Katara would put him in his place first, so she wouldn't need to make a trip back here if she ever did regain her abilities.Aang blinked after Haruko a few times, guessing it was his fault she was upset and quickly turned back to their hosts."Sorry... It's my fault she's upset, I may have overstepped when I revealed she was the Great Granddaughter of Avatar Roku... He's still proud of her though. She did the right thing, I hope others can learn from her example."Aang commented to the Chief and his daughter, though glanced towards Pakku as he did.Meanwhile Sokka ever so eloquently asked Yue if she wanted to meet up later and do an activity, which had the white haired Princess giggling once more and Katara teasing her older brother again. This served to release at least a small amount of the tension caused by Haruko's words and departure.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumi started playing with the little bit of kelp salad left on her plate. She gave a half grin at the teasing, but before long, maybe a few minutes, she excused herself as well, but as she did, Pakku stopped her."I want you to spar with Noga. Tonight."He pointed to the one boy who made a slight error during the show. One that probably was unnoticed by any in attendance besides Pakku and her. Lumikki saw how close Haruko was, and thought maybe the firebender had caught the slight mistake as well from her words. She looked right at her as she answered Pakku."So I can kick his ass and give you yet another reason to cut him? It wasn't that big. If you're embarrassed by something THAT insignificant, than Haruko is right about you. I hope Katara kicks yours."She knew that at least fighting Pakku to a draw was the only way he'd train her, so kicking his ass wasn't going to happen, as LUMI couldn't! She yanked away, apologized again to chief and princess for her behavior and leaving before dessert, and pretty much stormed to where Haruko was."The nerve of that.... Male! You were close enough to hear, you heard what he wanted and who with. ANYONE could've made that mistake, but it embarrassed him. I didn't see Aang have a problem with the show or be ashamed of some small miscalculation."She seemed to slam her back against the wall as she crossed her arms.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko was outside the Palace leaning against a pillar, looking out past the large wall that protected the city. It was so peaceful and tranquil here, just like Kyoshi Island. It would be so easy for her to just stay here and never have to think about bending ever again. But could she really do that and abandon Aang like that? Would he understand if she decided she had had enough of war and fighting. No, she told herself, Aang would tell her that she had to keep fighting, she had to stand up to her own people and show them their error. Her Great Grandfather would expect it of her, her mother would expect it of her. But what good was she, her confidence was rebuilt, but she didn't have the will to fight. Her silent musing was soon interrupted as she was joined by a certain waterbender. She sighed as she glanced over at the other woman and rolled her eyes."I'm not your friend, so why are you confiding in me? I'm just some Fire Nation Spy here to bring doom to your people,"she replied simply as if brushing Waterbender aside. Honestly she couldn't really blame anyone for holding that opinion, but that didn't mean she forgave such comments that quickly either. Most people left it at spy, rather then going as far as to call her the "doom of their people" or something similar. Perhaps she was being a bit harsh in her responses but that was just her when she got annoyed. A sort of defense mechanize, even Suki of Kyoshi, who had pulled her from the water when she washed up, hadn't been immune to her biting words at first. To be honest some good rest would do all members of Team Avatar some good, Haruko included even if she said she was fine. As she turned her attention back to the ocean beyond the wall she got the sudden feeling that this peace was merely a calm before a storm that was brewing just beyond the horizon. She briefly wondered if their enemies had realized what their destination had been. Quickly shaking that thought aside, she didn't want to think of the possibilities that they had just brought the war back to the North Pole.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki sighed. "Deserved that."Iceberg waddled up to her, and like some furless, sleek cat, rubbed against her leg."Always know when I'm mad, don't you?"The seal barked. Lumi sighed and looked at Haruko."I was wrong and I'm sorry. How would you be in my position?.... which you sort of was with Pakku. You don't hear me call him Master, do you? He doesn't deserve it. Fact. Another fact. I owe you a second chance, and want to get to know you. You're the first female to stand up to him. That's more than Princess Yue does. I admire that. Look, I'm trying to... What's the phrase? Kiss and make up. Figuratively, of course."She followed Haruko's gaze out upon the ocean."Beautiful isn't it? Serene. Calming."She pushed from the wall."Sokka pegged the wrong one with ice for blood, by the way."She took her coat off and put it slightly on the firebender's shoulders,"Although mine would probably be closer to the temperature of a mountain stream. You need anything now for warmth. I can go about four hours without a coat. Consider this another making up attempt."Because of the smell on the coat, Iceberg was confused and stayed close to Haruko as Lumikki walked back in, but not towards the feast just ending with dessert.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko had to stop herself from actually agreeing that Lumikki had deserved her comment. Then she had to remind herself she was supposed to be an adult. Traveling with Aang and the others she had allowed herself to relax more then she ever had in the Fire Nation, at least in recent years. It was like when she had been a kid and simply enjoyed life and firebending was still fun to her, just a game and not a skill that she honed into a weapon. In all honesty she had never fully allowed herself to be a kid or as carefree as Aang was. She envied him in a way, he grew up in peace time. Everyone alive now had grown up during a War, even if they didn't grow up on the front lines they were still touched by it in some way. Aang's personality was a breath of fresh air and even tended to remind everyone what it was like to be carefree. Even after decided it was time to embrace his destiny he was still the little boy he had been that showed up on Kyoshi pinning for Katara's attention. And that sometimes allowed the oldest member of Team Avatar to forget she was an adult herself and simply enjoy the time spent with her news friends. Though it also meant sometimes she could act immaturely, kind of like she had moments ago, throwing a tantrum and throwing Lumikki's words back at her like a child might."Look I'm not here to change your traditions. Whatever they are, whether I think they are right or wrong, is irrelevant. But I will call out a jerk, for well being a jerk."she commented simply. She wasn't watching the Waterbender so before she could refuse the coat was already placed, causing her to look back at the girl, shocked which soon turned to a frown.'Wait... I don't need.... a... coat... unless someone decides to throw me in the water..."she said pretty much to the air as Lumikki had already walked away. There wasn't really much she could do now and she was stuck with it until she could return it to the other woman. Looking down at the seal she frowned,"What, your master went that way..."she pointed in the direction Lumikki had disappeared in as she sighed and noticed the others making their way towards her."Nice coat, where'd you get it?"Aang asked as the group came outside."The one who called me the "doom of her people" and don't look at me like that I didn't ask for it."she replied as she fell into step with the others."Real nice Haruko, really spreading that Fire Nation goodwill by taking the coat of your enemy.... and to think Aang spoke up in your defense..."Sokka commented with mock sadness and disappointment. Haruko felt her eyebrow twitch ever so slightly as she clinched her fist."Now listen here you little punk..."Haruko started, but decided on a better come back, if he wanted to play dirty so would she."At least I could say more then two words to the Princess without tripping over myself."she replied in jest, to which Sokka looked devastated."Good evening Princess Yue."she added as Sokka began looking around for the mentioned girl."Haha very funny...."Sokka deadpanned as he realized it was a joke."Come on you two, they're gonna show us to our rooms, then me and Katara are going to start training tomorrow morning!"Aang finally called, his excitement clear in his voice and Haruko couldn't argue at that point so just followed, it was good to see Aang happy.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Next morning."Where's your good coat?"Lumikki was trying to sneak out in an older, faded, yet still quite warm one that was actually just a little big."I loaned it last night. I think this one would've fit her better, but I didn't have it at the time, Mom."Mom sighed."Before you go looking for your girlfriend, kindly make a stop at Yugoda's hut.""She's NOT my girlfriend!"Lumi snapped as she was rushed out the door, along with the retort of her mom following her with,"You loaned her your coat! She accepted it! She's your girlfriend! Don't like it, take it up with the chief!"Katara stood blinking, as she along with many other people stood agape at what they heard."Lumikki? You offered Haruko your coat?"Lumikki eyed Katara."Katara? Pakku said no?""I'm to meet with Yugoda. And learn healing."Katara even sounded upset."Walk with me. I have to run an errand for Mom."Lumi sighed."I take Aang and Haruko both are with Pakku?"Katara nodded."Who will recognize MY coat draped on Haruko.... I'm not going to hear the end of it from her, am I? I was only intending to show an act of kindness to her to make up for what I said.... Not get betrothed to her!" She stopped at the hut."Here we are."She knocked gently."Yugoda?""Enter. Both of you."As if expecting a certain question from Katara, she held up her hand."Don't. Ask. She just does."They both entered. Lumikki learned she was picking up a healing potion for her mom.Then Yugoda asked about the old coat, and waited to hear the whole story. She tutted sadly."You know the traditions, young lady. You gave her no choice but to accept, so YOU have no choice but to accept YOUR fate. You belong to Haruko, now. I take the coat you wear is the replacement to get back your good one? It's more than warm enough still. Great condition. She should be honored if she's a decent girl."She then looked at Katara."We have much to discuss. My how lovely, and who are you betrothed to?"She asked about the necklace."Yugoda, the Avatar wants me to train her although I'm no Master, nor do I want to be called one."She looked at Katara"I'll be waiting outside. Probably getting my ass kicked by my 'girlfriend' who has to be pissed off by now. I can't even do an act of kindness without traditions being in the way. I figured if I just walked away.... That would free me and her and it could be as it was intended. An act of kindness and an olive branch."She left the hut.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	A good night's rest had done wonders for Haruko's mood, as she felt much better then she had the previous day after sleeping two nights on Appa's back. Not that the Flying Bison didn't make a good pillow, he just wasn't a good mattress with limited space in the saddle. As she looked through her bag for something to wear, other then her Fire Nation uniforms she found what she should of had on the previous day and none of the mess with the fight and arguments would of happened. As it wouldn't match the blue of Water Tribe she picked an a green outfit from the Earth Kingdom. She didn't know the traditions of the Northern Water tribe and wasn't about to have people mistake her as being in any kind of agreement or relationship with anyone there. As such she dressed in her usual warm style, and put on a coat given to her by Suki before they left Kyoshi. The warrior had become quick friends with the former Captain, mostly over the bond of both being skilled female warriors. Knowing she would need to blend in the Kyoshi Warrior had given her a coat for when they traveled through cold climates were a non firebender would need a coat.So luckily for Haruko she wasn't wearing Lumikki's coat, so no one would think they were engaged. Well at least by looking at her, Lumikki would have to deal with the problems on her own end. Besides Haruko wasn't going to lug an extra coat around all day on the off chance she ran into the Waterbender or her seal. She left the coat in their room and would return it in private so to avoid any traditions she didn't know about. Coat exchanges was not something she considered an engagement, therefore it shouldn't apply to her regardless of what the Northern Tribe thought, heck she wasn't even Water Tribe so they couldn't expect the former Captain to know their traditions.Shaking the thought from her mind she had joined Aang and Katara as they went to the training grounds. She sat out of range of any attacks, but close enough to help. She didn't like Pakku enough to approach close enough to hear the exchange until Katara stormed passed her."Katara? What happened?"she called after the girl but didn't get an answer and sighed. Not one to stand for having a friend hurt she got up and walked towards Aang and Pakku. She didn't trust this Master Waterbender anymore and wanted to make sure he didn't do anything fishy to Aang. She sat closer now, making it clear she was watching the man for anything fishy. He might not trust her because she was Fire Nation, but she didn't trust him because right now he reminded her of Zhao.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki was waiting with bated breath the sound thrashing from Haruko that didn't come. Once Katara came out of the healer's hut about an hour or so later, Lumi directed her to a familiar area, a large park, a stone's throw from the Avatar and Company rooms.The place itself was large and open, yet secluded in such a way that Lumi wouldn't be ratted out to Pakku for training Katara "illegally", truth of the matter was, unknown to Pakku, Lumi WAS an unofficial trainer, as both chief and princess approved of her. This could've been open... But Lumi feared Pakku like one would an abusive stepfather."First thing first. Use more of a whipping motion. Doing this..." She copied the whirling motion Katara had done,"Gives your opponent a chance to defend as you saw me do with your whip, stopping it and bending it to wrap harmlessly around my arm."She held up a finger."However..."She made her own water whip, just slightly thinner than Katara's, but easily as long, and proceeded to use it as intended. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Water flew off the edges of the whip, but snow flew from the ground, she quite literally cracked a nearby iceblock, and took some bark off the tree. Clearly, Lumi's had hit flesh.... It would've hurt. She let her water go and back to the pond."Now let's see you, less lasso. More..."She made the whipping motion with her arm before nodding to Katara.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Katara sighed as she followed Lumikki, she was annoyed about not getting to train but her mood improved as she realized that Lumikki was about to start teaching her. She watched intently at what the Northern Bender did and took it all it. Once it was her turn to try she nodded,"Right, so like this?"she asked as she mimicked Lumikki's movements before trying it with actual water. Then once she was sure she swung her water whip and took a branch clean off the tree with little to no effort from her."Wow it worked!"she said excitedly."Alright what's next?"she asked as she waited for Lumikki to give her the next move.Haruko sighed as she continued to watch Pakku train Aang. While the Avatar was learning he didn't seem to be taking it as seriously as he should even as he picked everything up quickly. Though to the Firebender, the waterbending seemed pretty boring, but by watching Pakku train Aang she watched his style and learned his movements and tells. If she got her will to firebend back, she could use what she learned against him and beat him rather soundly. As they day stretched into evening Haruko began wondering how much longer these sessions would be, Aang was just a kid after all and needed to rest some time, and eat. Briefly she wondered if Sokka had any luck better luck with Yue, but pushed the thought aside. She couldn't afford distractions when she was supposed to protect the Avatar.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki had a stupid grin on her face, as she watched the branch fall. Clearing her throat and nodding, very much impressed, she said,"Right then, 'nuff of that. Clearly a pointer was all you needed with the whip."She thought of teaching the two whip technique, but opted for three hours of work on advanced waterbending Katara would have learned had she been trained by Pakku.Unlike the Master, Lumikki broke for a meal, and talked to Katara about things not associated with the lessons, unless Katara asked specifically, although Lumi did try to emphasize separation of the two.The afternoon lessons did consist of an introduction both of a second whip, and turning water to ice. Control of a second whip wasn't easy, although Lumi made it look easy, but as the six hours came to a close, Katara was getting the hang of it. During one point, early in the afternoon lessons, a large shadow of a certain flying Bison came from overhead. Lumi suspected it was just the animal going for a walk... Or rather fly.Their day finished, Lumi and Katara were sitting and watching for the return of Aang. In fact, it was about an hour after. The sun wasn't just low in the sky... It was setting. Lumikki visibly frowned, her whole face turning into one big scowl."Pakku probably didn't even break for a meal. He usually doesn't. But Aang is still a kid. Sister, am I giving him a piece of my mind when he brings Aang back! This. Is. Ridiculous.""Is this your Haruko?"A woman with hair like the iridescent feathers of a raven, and roughly twice the age of Lumikki approached where they sat. She was easily a few inches taller than Katara."No, Mom. This is Katara. Haruko is the Avatar's bodyguard, who I extended an olive branch to, because I was wrong about her. She... Didn't have a... Coat.... And looked cold."Lumi's Mom smiled at Katara, nodding, before saying,"So the Fire Nation girl. YOU know the tradition on offering your coat...""She shouldn't be bound to our traditions...""Lumikki. She accepted.""I didn't give her a choice. I walked away. I wanted her to be warm... I wanted to offer an olive branch."Slap. It happened so quick, Lumikki was facing 90 degrees from where she had a moment before before she knew it, and the cheek was turning red."You made her accept?! Then, you belong to her unless the chief lets you off the hook! I suggest you and Haruko visit him about this. Tonight."
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko watched as Aang mastered each technique taught to him. Then as the other students were released but not Aang. That was where the former Captain drew the line. It was bad enough Pakku didn't break for lunch, but to send the other students home, all less skilled, and keep Aang for no decernable reason? Thay didn't sit well at all with Haruko and she had seen enough as we stood and walked towards the pair."Alright Pakku that's enough, it's getting late and Aang need to eat and rest."she said as she came to a stop in the training area, preventing them from having the proper space to train."Says who, Aang is my student and will train as long as I say." Pakku challanges with a smirk expecting theweak and emotional girlto back down."Says me. Aang is clearly exhausted."she retorted."He is the Avatar and must learn to Waterbend, will you deny him that? There is a war going on after all." Pakku replied feeling smug."Even the Avatar needs rest, and I don't see any Fire Nation soldiers here. So unless you expect them to show up with in the next few days, I'd say it's pretty peaceful here."Haruko shot back. Just as Pakku looked to be ready to reply she continued,"That aside, he's mastered everything you taught him today, I'd say he's earned a rest and I'm sure your Chief would feel the same.""Fine! But training resumes at dawn. If you're late Aang, then I will no longer train you." Pakku replied, clearly annoyed at being told off in front of a crowd that had gathered. Without another word Haruko turned to leave, Aang joining her. It was then that Pakku spoke up again. "Nothing but an emotional woman, no wonder you couldn't cut it as a Fire Nation Soldier." The Waterbender sneered to Haruko's back. A moment later a fireball exploded at his feet. It wasn't powerful enough to cause damage but enough to shut the man up for now. He would not let the attack go unanswered as Haruko glared back at him, but continued walking. He would bring it to the chief that very evening."I'm not sure that was a good idea Haruko..."Aang commented."It wasn't... promise me you'll never bend in anger."Haruko replied, her eyes softened as she looked at the young Avatar."I'm a monk, peace is kind of my thing. But hey look on the brightside, you used firebending!"Aang replied with his usual smile."So I did,"she replied as the pair walked. Katara hadn't thought about Aang's training, having been focused on her own all day. But when Lumikki mentioned that Pakku didn't take breaks she frowned and began to worry about Aang."Well Haruko is with him, so he should be fine..."she commented, though she still worried a bit. What if Haruko was sent away as well, or worse Pakku egged her on into attacking him and had her arrested or something worse. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the other woman and suddenly felt confused. In all the confusing she lost track of what was being discussed, something about coats and Haroku belonging to anyone? Ha that would never happen she thought. Seeing the slap allowed her mind to catch up with everything said."Wait wait wait... hold on... back up... offering someone a coat is akin to a betrothal? Do you realize how silly that sounds!?"she replied as she stood up. She knew Haruko would probably have stronger words for that kind of odd idea. But Katara chose to be less insulting in her word choice.Just them Haruko and Aang came into view as the climbed the stairs to the level the others were waiting on. Aang was excited to see Katara again, while Haruko was wondering what was bothering Sokka as she had seen him looking rather sad as he went back to their quarters instead of the palace to eat. As they drew near Aang started to talk about his training but thought better of it, guessing Katara was still mad about not getting to train with Pakku."Either of you know what's bothering Sokka? I saw him on a bridge looking pretty upset."Haruko commented as she came to a stop. She then noticed the older woman that seemed upset about something."Everything alright here?"she asked simply.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumi's Mom just sighed, pinching her nose."Even my daughter's own words betrayed her. She did it with affection. Only the chief, hearing BOTH sides, Lumikki, can annul this.... Otherwise, you must leave with them when they do, as you belong to Haruko."She turned as she heard the woman in question speak. Lumikki approached her,"He might have learned Princess Yue is promised to another, though I can't for the life of me remember who. It was prearranged long before you all arrived. I don't know if it was announced after dinner last night or not. It would've happened after dessert, and well, we had left by then. Otherwise, maybe she told him herself. Speaking of, can you please get my coat, and join me to speak with the chief?"She shot her mom a glare, as 'affection' in THAT sense hadn't been Lumi's intention, as she said nicely to Haruko,"Apparently, my act of good will had unexpected consequences, unexpected even to me. Thought I knew my own traditions better."When the group would arrive, it would seem that Chief Arnook was not pleased with what he heard as he chided Pakku,"She's his bodyguard, Pakku. YOU overstepped your authority, by your account. I will speak to her, though... Hearing her side. Though by your own admission, it sounds as if she was protecting the Avatar as she has claimed all along. The poor boy must be famished."Pakku would be excused and Lumikki approached."May I have your audience?"She asked timidly."Do you mind if Haruko hears? I wish to hear her version of an incident this evening."He waved her to approach, while simultaneously holding a hand up to his daughter. With Lumi shaking her head, admitting Haruko was involved, which amazed Arnook, she was allowed by Lumi also to draw near."Now. You first, Lumi. What is the matter?"Lumi filled the Chief in on everything that transpired the night before regarding the coat, and her actions for Haruko to keep it on her shoulders. She explained how wrong she had been, and meant it only as warmth and an olive branch. The chief asked pointedly her feelings, and learned Lumi didn't know how else to convey her repentance for her behavior, as horrible as it had been that afternoon towards Haruko, as the firebender had indeed appeared cold. Yes, she cared. But about Haruko's health."And is that also how you had seen her gift, Haruko? As she explained it just now?"The chief asked solemnly.He would pass judgement on this, before asking the firebender about the incident this evening, which Pakku was calling both emotional and unprovoked. The Chief already having his doubts on the latter. Even by Pakku's words, it was definitely provoked, if nothing more than protecting the Avatar.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko arched an eyebrow as she heard the older woman speak,"Wait a second, no one here belongs to anyone."she replied as she looked at the woman, daring her to challenge the Firebender's words. She then turned her attention to Lumikki,"Sure... I'll be right back. Katara mind filling me in?"she asked as she turned and made her way towards their quarters. As they walked Katara explained what was going on, what she didn't expect, or perhaps she did was Haruko's response."WHAT!? Offering a coat is considered a betrothal? Do you realize how idiotically stupid that sounds? Don't they already have that necklace thing? How many forms of betrothal does once culture need?"Haruko ranted as they walked, everyone within ear shot, and maybe a little beyond could hear her as she was pretty much shouting at the lunacy of the situation. There wasn't really much Katara could do to stop the ranting, instead she simply looked slightly embarrassed by all the stares they were getting.By the time Haruko had retrieved the coat and returned she had calmed down, exhausting all the ranting she could without answers from the people of the Northern Water tribe. They were perhaps a bit too scared of the annoyed woman to approach and explain their traditions. She entered the Palace in time to notice Pakku talking to the Chief before being dismissed, shooting a self satisfied smile in the direction of the Firebender as he did. She listened to the Chief and Lumikki as they spoke, and waited for her turn, cause she was really going to give the man a piece of her mind."Look, I don't know your traditions. Whatever Lumikki's intentions, it shouldn't matter. Besides that to consider a coat on the same level as a dowry is probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. You already have Betrothal necklaces, so why the hell would a coat be considered the same thing? It's a coat.... To clarify, I didn't need a coat then, nor do I need one now. More importantly, we haven't known each other long enough to have formed a friendship, much less anything that could be considered romantic. If it was an attempt at extending an Olive branch then I believe that's what is was, nothing more. No matter how misplaced it was, considering last I checked you didn't force an olive branch into another's hand. That aside, I don't believe there was any other intent behind the offering of the coat beyond a misguided attempt to make up for insulting me earlier. I intended to return the coat at the first chance I got, but I was willing to give Lumikki a second chance, after all we all make mistakes some times,"Haruko replied, Katara and Aang both cringing as Haruko called an apparent Tradition dumb to the Chief."I see, you say you don't need a coat yet wear one."the Chief replied simply."It's simply to blend in, its better to avoid showing that I am a Firebender."she replied."In a green coat?"The Chief asked doubtfully."I don't own Water Tribe clothes, This was given to me in Kyoshi, and no it isn't a Betrothal either. Your tribe is the only one I've seen with that kind of insane tradition."Haruko answered, once more causing Aang and Katara to cringe. They were pretty sure she had already made her feelings about the tradition clear and didn't need to keep pounding it home."I see, very well then. Ms. Haruko can not be held to our traditions as she is an outsider. As for you Lumikki, you know our traditions, no mater how old they are and due for change they might be. I will not excuse such actions on your part again. There is no betrothal here, and perhaps it is time we review some of our older traditions."the Chief replied before turning his attention back to Haruko."Now, it has been brought to my attention that you attacked Master Pakku?"At this Katara stared at Haruko in shock. Why wasn't she allowed to attack the Master Waterbender and Haruko was? What a double standard, Katara thought as she remembered Haruko telling her to stay calm and not act rashly towards Master Pakku."I did not attack Pakku, I issued a warning that I would defend Aang and my honor from anyone. If I had attacked the man, he would not have walked away unscathed."Haruko replied calmly."Anyone that was present could tell you my fireball never got close to him.""I see, it is as I expected then. I see nothing wrong with your actions, though I would advise against provoking Master Pakku in the future."Chief Arnook replied."I understand sir,"Haruko replied with a nod before turning and moving away from the chief before turning back to the others with a sigh."Here's your coat back. Lets avoid any other Water Tribe traditions that I don't know about."she commented as she held the coat out for Lumikki to take back.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki accepted her coat back they weren't completely out of earshot of the Chief when she spoke up to Haruko."I'm beginning to understand. He said old. It was a way to show love, romantic love, just as I suspected, yet at the same time... Not always. He seemed to agree with you in regards to romantic feelings. And as you clearly pointed out, we have the necklace, now. How I did it was concern for you. Completely different context. How did it get so warped that just GIVING the coat was a betrothal?""How indeed...?"The Chief muttered as he spoke to Yue. The answer was simple. The people of the tribe added their opinions to the actual letter of the rule, as the Chief would learn after the upcoming battle. Right now, he was once again playing host to the Avatar, who wasn't thinking anything about deciding to show Katara some of what he learned, although Katara had learned a few of them in the morning from Lumikki. Something she didn't tell Aang.... And wouldn't in public.Katara's interest, however, piqued Pakku's attention... And suddenly, there was yet another brouhaha as Aang was publically humiliated with a dismissal from Pakku."That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more!"* Lumikki practically shoved the old coat at Haruko as she stormed to Pakku,"You inconsiderate male chauvinist! It's bad enough you treat women so casually and disrespectful, but I'll be damned if I let you talk to the AVATAR like that! Why is he cut?! Hahn?! Why?! And it damned well better be one helluva good reason!"The Chief was within earshot as Pakku dismissed Lumi as being overly emotional and he didn't need to explain anything he did to the likes of her. Unamused, the chief cut in."Then tell me, Pakku, in the presence of all these witnesses. Why did you just cut the Avatar from your class?"Pakku explained how he had emphatically forbade Aang from teaching Katara what he learned from him. Yet, here he was, going against direct orders."I wasn't TEACHING her how, I was showing her what I learned."Aang said calmly."Had it been true teaching, I would have slowed my movements so she could mimic them."The Chief nodding, said,"Well said. I saw, and apparently these two did as well. Well then, Aang? Would you settle for the second best waterbender to finish your training?""Of course. Who is he? Can I meet him, now?""You're already acquainted with HER."He looked at Lumikki, then to Pakku who visibly frowned upon hearing this, as well as a verbal growl escaping his throat. He relented as Lumikki whispered quietly to Arnook."Really? That impressive?"He asked looking at Lumikki, who nodded."And Katara if she wishes."Pakku opened his mouth but said nothing. Closing it he stared down Katara."Sorry I stole your thunder, lightning and fireworks, Haruko.... But you have no idea how long that's been brewing."Lumi said, probably in the calmest audible voice she had since the conversation after seeing the Chief.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko shrugged as she listened to Lumikki explain the situation as she now understood it. Though in the Firebender's eyes it was settled from the start, it wasn't that she didn't care, just that the Water Tribe traditions didn't really effect her in the long run. All she really had to do was avoid insulting anyone because she was ignorant to some of the more quirky traditions. For the most part all cultures of their world had pretty similar ones, like honor the one Haruko held as the highest, they also all shared a love for tea. That was something she had learned from General Iroh.Her musing was cut short as another altercations began between Team Avatar and Pakku. She was just about to step in when Lumikki shoved yet another coat into her hands and she frowned as the girl stormed off. This caused quiet an interesting scene to play out, which gained it's own attention, at least for a moment.Haruko shifted her stance slightly to the right and mimicked Lumikki's movements,"Hey Haruko, would you mind holding my coat for me?"she asked in a cheerful voice then shifted to her left, back toactingas herself."Sure Lumikki, I don't mind being a coat stand for a few minutes..."she replied in a similar cheerful tone. She then returned to her normal stance, an expression somewhere between bored and annoyed on her face as her eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. It was a look she gave Sokka quiet often. This had Katara feeling a bit worried about the sanity of their Firebender."Are you alright Haruko?"Katara asked causiouly."Oh yes I'm just fine Katara! I've gone from Bodyguard of the Avatar to..... a coat stand...."she replied, her tone started as overly cheerful, but ended in a sarcastic deadpan. This of course caused a small scene as the people within earshot all stared, until everyone's attention was pulled to the bigger scene caused by Lumikki, Pakku, and the Chief's conversation. Haruko kept he eyes on Pakku, she didn't think he would try anything, but then again his pride was taking huge hits at the moment. Haruko would attack his honor next, when give the change. After all as Lumikki soon admitted she had stolen a small bit of thunder. As Lumikki returned and stated as much Haruko shrugged."No worries, although there wouldn't be much fireworks, as this is about the extent of my bending at the moment,"she replied as she created a fireball in her hand for a few seconds, glancing towards Pakku, before closing her fist and snuffing out the fire."Besides if I had confronted him, he'd probably use it as another excuse to try to get me thrown out of the city or jailed."she added. Instead she waited until he was leaving, as they were still near the entrance he had to pass them to leave. That was her moment to strike and really damage the man's pride and honor. It was the latter she was after, as his pride had been stepped on enough by the others."So you would really refuse to train the Avatar, even though he is probably the only one powerful enough to stop the Fire Nation? Do you want this war to end? Or would you rather just let the Fire Nation win? If that's the case why not just open your gate and invite the next Fire Nation ship to pass right into your beautiful city."she called, which caused the man to stop in his tracks."You'd love that wouldn't you? To see the Fire Nation banner flying over this city!" Pakku snapped back."Not at all, I want to see peace and that can't happen as long as Fire Lord Ozai is in power. she replied, he was falling into her trap."I might be an emotional woman but at least I know where my loyalty is. To ending this war and bringing peace to all Nations and protecting those who can't protect themselves and most importantly the Avatar as my Great Grandfather would expect of me. Where is your honor and loyalty."she finished as Pakku glared at her."Tis I don't have to take this from you. Your nothing but an emotional woman who can't even bend your own element." The "Master" Waterbend snapped and stormed away. Haruko simply smiled to herself as she sat to eat. She was honestly ready for the evening to end. Besides that, she was worried about the only non bender in their group. Sokka wasn't here and he never missed a chance to eat. What could be so bad that he would forgo food?"Hey, I'm going to go check on Sokka... I'll see you guys later. I know Aang is in safe hands. Also Lumikki here's your other coat back, it's nice of you, but I really don't need it."she said as she took two plates of food with her, one for her and the other for Sokka. As she left the palace and made her way towards their quarters she got a feeling of being followed as well as a sense of dread like something bad was about to happen. When she glance back she didn't see anything, but the feeling of something bad happening soon didn't go away as she resumed walking.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Katara was about to ask Haruko what she meant as she saw Lumikki being talked to again by the chief, who only gave Haruko a courteous nod. He also had already talked to Aang and Katara at length about who they wanted. Both pairs of eyes went towards Lumi.Lumikki was learning now the Chief's decision on the whole matter now as her eyes went wide as saucers and her jaw dropped. She had wanted to tell Haruko that she had only intended to have Haruko hold it while she gave Pakku what four . Wait, she unleashed both barrels on him. It was probably what eighter .With Haruko leaving, Lumi assumed protector and matchmaker roles, as Katara was assigned the seat next to Aang again. Katara raised an eyebrow as Lumi took her seat next to her.As the Chief once again toasted Aang, he also announced a change in the teacher for the Avatar, citing the very incident many diners witnessed as why. He then asked Lumi pointedly what time lessons would start. She hadn't started with Katara til around 9:15, so she answered smartly,"Quarter after eight. Same place near their rooms as today's with Katara. Let them have breakfast. Dawn is a bit cruel."Especially since Dawn was about 5:30 on top of the world. With that settled, they ate dinner.Haruko. How was Haruko going to handle this news? Would she be relieved? Or mad and threaten her not to be abusive? Both? Lumikki let that bother her throughout dinner. She wasn't much of a conversationalist. She poked at her food, and sighed. At dessert, she passed, and left when the remaining two left.The Day of the BattleIt started off clear, yet with a peculiar haze on the horizon. Dawn. Zero hour. By nine a.m., Aang and Katara were enjoying the beginning of lessons with a trainer that calmly would move an arm, wrist, foot or leg for a proper stance or the slow teaching one step at a time to bend. Both were on ice, and Aang was having trouble concentrating by two. Lumi blushed, apologized profusely, especially when Aang bent snow around him and became a living snowman, causing Lumi to facepalm with a grimace and call the break... Then Momo gagged on black snow starting to fall. Lumi looked up."...The hell?"
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko made it back to their room without anything happening, but her feeling still wouldn't go away. Pushing the feeling aside she found Sokka who was indeed upset. It wasn't hard for her to figure out what was bothering him. As it turned out it was Yue's betrothal to someone, as Lumikki had guessed earlier. To ease Sokka's mood Haruko suggested that he take Yue for a ride on Appa the next day. As expected when the other's returned Aang was happy to help his friend and agreed to let him take Appa out for a flight with the Northern Tribe Princess. With everyone's plans for the next day set, they all slept through the night. In the morning Sokka split from the group to take Yue for a flight while Katara and Aang, with Haruko in tow, went to meet with Lumikki. While the others trained Haruko relaxed near by, allowing a small fireball to move, or flow, between her fingers. It was an exercise her mother had taught her to increase focus and concentration. It was her way of staving off boredom as the others trained, because if she lost focus for even a second she could easily burn herself. Every now and then she would look up from the little ball of fire to see what was going on with Aang and Katara's training to see how they were doing. One such time was when Aang made himself a snowman, which cause her to laugh and lose enough concentration that her mini fireball bounced away."oops..."she exclaimed as she pulled it back and put it out. With a sigh she stood and was about to join the others when she noticed the grey colored "snow" and frowned as she held out her hand. When some of it fell in her palm she ran her thumb over it and realized exactly what it was in an instant."Ash mixed with snow...."she said in a low voice before turning to the others."The Fire Nation is here!"Haruko and Sokka yelled at the same time. The latter had just returned with Appa and was landing next to the group. Yue following him as he jumped down from Appa."How many Ships?"Haruko asked as she clinched her fists."Hundreds, it's the biggest fleet I've ever seen."Sokka replied grimly."Zhao...."Haruko said as she looked out towards the horizon. The Fleet couldn't be seen yet, the only sign of their presence was the falling snow ash mix signally their impending arrival."They'll be here by this evening...."Haruko estimated based on the amount of ashy snow. However, if Sokka was right about the size of the fleet, there was really no way to be sure."Come on, we have to warn the Chief!"Sokka replied, to which Haruko agreed as they started towards the Palace. Despite the situation and the urgency in Sokka's actions there was a clear tension that had formed between Sokka and Yue since the last time Haruko had seen them together that morning. Sokka was all business, but Haruko could tell he was hurting on some level, she could read the emotion so well, because it was one she had felt often after her betrayal. She guessed Katara would notice as well, since she knew Sokka the best of them all.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumi stopped Haruko."How strong is your faith in your bending? Enough to turn water to steam? Or rather fog is my plan. Pea soup thick. That way they'll run into our iceberg barriers because they can't see them.... I'm going to need at least two more strong waterbenders I can trust to pull it off... And Pakku most assuredly isn't one of them."She wasn't thinking. She had two. Two she was teaching what was the equivalent of icebending to an outsider. She waited to hear from Haruko before continuing on to the Chief, encouraging Haruko she had it in her and Haruko was the Northern Tribe's trump card.By the time they caught up, the chief had been told. Yue was there so it could be assured she had said something as well."I have a plan we can implement now. While they're still far out to sea.""This should be entertaining." Pakku scoffed, arms folded.The Chief scowled his direction. He was continually losing favor when Lumikki was proving herself capable time and again."What is this plan of yours?"As Lumikki explained it, Pakku roared with laughter. "If your plan depends on the weak firebender... We need a full frontal assault the moment we see them. Besides. The idea keeps us from seeing them.""Why do you continue to criticize EVERY female?! What did we ever do to you?!"Katara shot, before shutting up to let Haruko have a say.The Chief spoke first."I have half a mind, Pakku, to let the firebender and you battle, but since time is of the essence, and we need every available BENDER that is on our side, regardless of element, she will just verbally tear you a new one. Have at it, young lady. Especially if you can help implement Lumikki's plan."
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko paused as Lumikki stopped her and heard her plan,"I mean I can... but not on that scale. Were you not listening when I said a small fireball was the extend of my bending right now. Sure I can generate heat and keep warm, but I don't have the will to bend fire on any kind of large scale. You shouldn't depend on me for bending."she replied before she started towards the Palace once more. All she could do was listen as Lumikki still gave her plan despite what she had told the Waterbender moments before. She didn't even had a response when Pakku to a stab at her then mentioned his own plan. Haruko turned a glare on Lumikki for putting her on the spot like this, even after explaining she probably couldn't do it. There was a long pause after the Chief put her on the spot as well, as if expecting her to have a retort. She expected Aang, Katara, or Sokka to speak up for her, they knew she didn't have the will to bend and why, but everyone was silent as the room turned to the lone Firebender."Pakku is right.... I can't bend on that scale right now.... I mean I can try, but I haven't had the will to bend since I was imprisoned and tortured by the very soldiers I once commanded, just because I protected a defenseless village. I will try, but you should make other plans.... you can't count on me right now..."she finally said, it was clear it was very hard for her to admit that. With her peace spoken she turned and left the Palace, she was angry at herself for admitting her weakness, she was mad at Team Avatar for not standing up for her, and she was mad at Lumikki for not listening to her in private. Of course she would do what she could, she didn't want to see the Fire Nation win anymore then the others did. She didn't go far, leaning on a wall overlooking the city from just outside the Palace, they would need her, and she knew that, even if it wasn't for her bending, but her knowledge of the Fire Nation's tactics."Look, regardless of the plan we need her help. She might be struggling to bend right now. But her knowledge of Fire Nation tactics will be invaluable against them."Sokka spoke up for her even as he volunteered for a secret mission that the Chief had. He doubted Pakku would admit that based on his past comments about Haruko and Katara, but he wanted to point it out so the others might act on it.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki joined Haruko at the wall after being all but dismissed for inclusion at the front."Chief Arnook is arguing the point he specifically said ALL benders."She sighed as she looked down from the wall as she learned on it."I still believe in you. I believe you'll get it all back, and the Moon spirit will smile on you because of your desire to protect. That's why I told my plan anyway. Heh. Ironically, I have enough confidence we can still drive them back somehow, that there's spare for you if I could transfer it. I don't know if you heard..."She stopped as the debate became heated on Pakku's end, not wanting any of the three overly emotional girls or the kid anywhere around him, and he wouldn't bail out any of them. It ended with a dismissal from the chief and three well aimed snowballs from team Avatar. Yue actually giggled about this. One more attack came as a bucket of water suddenly lost it's contents all over Pakku, who glared Lumi's way, only to see her whistling softly to herself while looking at Haruko. Team Avatar and Yue found that hilarious. Even theChiefsmirked. Fuming, Pakku stormed off, at leasthisplan was the one implemented, and Haruko admitted he was right. Two fold win for him. His last."What can we expect from these trespassers, Haruko?"It was the chief who watched Lumikki facepalm. He raised an eyebrow with a bemused expression, but ignored that to focus attention on the only one in the group with inside knowledge.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko glanced at Lumikki as she spoke,"You don't even know me, nor have you seen me bend, aside from a very small amount."she replied simply, as she kept her eyes towards the horizon. If she hadn't recognized Pakku's voice she might have turned to see what the commotion was but as she had heard his voice she didn't bother to look."Even when he gets his way he whines like a child. In the Fire Nation he would be challenged to an Agni Kai by now..."she commented as she shook her head slightly. She was starting to think about the upcoming battle and how she could help, without her bending she would have to rely on her other skills, like swords and spears. It wouldn't be an easy fight no matter what plans they came up with. Zhao was known for being aggressive, even over aggressive and didn't control his Firebending. There would be a lot of collateral damage as a result of the fight. That was if Zhao got his hands dirty and actually fought himself, which she doubted would happen. As she heard the Chief she stood up straight and turned to face the man."Well, if it is Zhao, which I'm sure it is, he will be aggressive. He'll start with a bombardment to weaken any defenses then he'll likely ram the wall with his ships and send in his troops that way rather then wait to destroy the wall with firebombs. Zhao doesn't contain his firebending so if he joins the fight in person expect a lot of collateral damage. While he's not subtle, he wouldn't attack without some kind of plan, I expect he's got some kind of trump card. If he has any smart commanders with him, he'll stop his attack when the moon rises. Any competent commander knows Waterbenders are strongest under the moon. But it's Zhao so you can probably expect him to continue the attack as long as he can and as long as he has the advantage. He won't try to wait us out, he'll want a quick and decisive victory."she replied calmly as she watched the Chief reaction to her words. While she could guess at Zhao's plans she didn't know he knew where the ocean and moon spirits lived so she didn't know he planned to kill the moon spirit."If there is anything here Zhao can used to his advantage and he knows about it, he will most assuredly try."she added just to be safe. At this point that was all she could think of, anything else and she would have to spend much more time figuring it out.For now though she expected it would be a waiting game, until the first ships arrived. For now it was the calm before the storm, the part she hated most. Just waiting for the enemy to come to them, and no possible way to escape other then to win the battle. She hoped fate, and the spirits were on their side today.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	The Chief seemed to ponder the options he may think he had very carefully, and for an extended period. Finally, he said,"Lumi, I want you and your double whip on the far wall,"he pointed to where the garden that held two certain fish were, and where Aang was headed."Defend with every fiber of your being as you know what's at stake."Lumi nodded, and was off. He looked at some of the men and directed them to take strategic positions around the city. Soon only Katara, Haruko and he remained with a few other strong men."Knowing Pakku, he went to the main wall to oversee that, which leaves the rest of us to defend the palace..."He had been looking around."Where's Aang?"He frowned, sighed and said, answering his own question,"Off to do an Avatar thing, I'd imagine. During the battles, Haruko, you can give us pointers on how and where to make the best defense we will start with adding more Berg's as defense."Meanwhile, Lumi reached the garden to set up her defense of ice around it, not knowing Aang had arrived mere moments earlier to meditate and enter the Spirit World to get information on how to help.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko nodded as she heard the chief, while she would rather be protecting Aang, she knew her value in this fight would be her ability to help the Northern Water Tribe fight off the Fire Nation attack. Though she did turn to Katara before following the chief."If you find Aang protect him, this isn't going to be an easy fight."she said before turning and following the Chief without waiting to see if Katara was listening to her."If I'm going to help I need to know what this secret mission is that Sokka volunteered for."she commented and the Chief was silent for a moment before nodding then lead the way to their armory. Once there they found all of the men who had volunteered for the Chief's mission, except for one."I'm sure you're all wondering about this mission. You're going to be infiltrating the Fire Nation fleet to take out their leader and force them to retreat."the Chief said calmly."Wait... how are we going to do that?"Sokka asked looking confused."With these,"the Chief said as Yue's betrothed came out wearing a very old, like 100 years old, Fire Nation uniforms."Captured Fire Nation uniforms.""They'll never suspect a thing!" commented the man who expected to be the next chief."I'm afraid they will."Haruko replied simply."Yeah right! You just want to see us lose!" the man replied back."No, she's right. The Fire Nation hasn't had shoulder spikes in almost 100 years, you'll be spotted for sure."Sokka commented in support of Haruko."Besides that, just as I don't know your traditions, you don't have the military discipline of Fire Nation soldiers."Haruko said simply."Hmm... very well, listen to Ms. Haruko and Sokka they will be our Fire Nation experts, so do as they say."the Chief ordered calmly. With that he left the group to prepare as Haruko and Sokka shared what they could about the Fire Nation tactics and how they should act while infiltrating the Fleet. After a while Haruko felt she could add any more to the planning, or rather the overconfident teen thought he knew more and refused to listen so she left. Not long after there was an altercation between him and Sokka, which got Sokka pulled from the mission, but assigned to a more important one, protecting Yue. Haruko found the Chief once more to help with the defenses of the city.The fleet arrived just before sunset and began it's bombardment, however before they began their full attack they stopped as she moon began to rise."So he does have some smart commanders... they know you are strongest when the moon is up so they stopped the attack. They will likely start again tomorrow when the sun rises."Haruko explained. The Chief nodded and went to check on the damage and make sure his soldiers were ready for the fight to come. The next morning as expected the attack resumed as she sun rose. Haruko was coordinating the defenses as best she could. The battle continued throughout the day but the Fire Nation didn't get as far as they expected. This time as the sun went down the attack didn't end. Yue lead Katara to the Spirit pond to find Aang while Haruko moved from the wall to the Palace to make sure no Fire Nation soldiers could get that far.It was around this time that Zuko was drawing close to his target. He had spotted Katara and Yue and followed them in the shadows, not knowing he was headed straight towards an early confrontation. He just knew where ever Katara was going the Avatar wouldn't be far away, so it was his chance to catch the kid once and for all. Once the door closed behind the two young women he began to move towards it as well.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Kaaa RAAACK! Ka RAACK! As soon as those two were clear, Zuko was meeting the business end of two water whips at the same time. Talk about double barrelled."You come no farther, intruder."The whips just seem to come out of the shadows at him. If Zuko was going to get the Avatar, Zhou would need to defeat the expert waterbender that currently used what shadows she had to her advantage... And had swore a silent oath to Haruko and the ocean and moon spirits she would protect Aang at all costs... If she had to sacrifice sleep to do it.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Zuko jumped back as the whips lashed out at him, growling in frustration."Get out of my way! The Avatar is mine!"he yelled as she shot a fireball at the place where the voice had come from. Just to be sure he his his target he sent two more, one each to the left and right of the first. He didn't have time for this, it was bad enough he would probably have to face Katara to get to Aang, now he had to deal with another pest. He did his best to contain his anger, he need to keep a level head if he was going to capture the Avatar before Zhao.Haruko was about half way to the palace when she noticed the explosions where there shouldn't be any Fire Nation soldiers and frowned. There was no one around that she could send so she went herself to find out what was going on. But she doubted she could make it in time for whatever was going on. She hoped Aang and the others weren't in danger, as she didn't know where they had gone, she had been too busy with the defenses. Whatever was going on she would find out and stop it if she could.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	The first fire ball nearly got Lumikki. She knocked out the other, but the one behind her blew up a tree. That wasn't good, she lost some of her shadows. Without a word, she hoped Katara was watching , sent both whips silently to whip around both legs to trip him... Not to mention sting them from the lash around. Since her whip had taken bark off a tree, it would definitely sting before Zuko found himself on his ass.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Zuko frowned as he realized this fight was going to take more effort and growled in frustration."You can't stop me, you're only slowing me down! Now GET... OUT... OF... MY... WAY!"he said through clinched teeth as he prepared to attack again only to have his legs pulled out from under him. He cried out as he fell back, but caught himself at the last moment, rolling back, and propelling himself back to his feet as he shot two more fireballs at the woman using the water whips.Haruko was making her way from the palace towards the explosions she had seen, but she likely wouldn't arrive in time to help. Even if she did, what could see do without full control of her bending. The spear she had wouldn't be much help against a fireball. Though it was a Fire Nation weapon which meant it was at least fire resistant.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki was preparing another attack to keep the intruder off balance she stopped one, but didn't react quick enough to stop the other, her last conscious thought was, This is gonna hurt...Yue and Katara watched in horror, with the former having her hands over her mouth, as the fireball hit it's mark. Lumikki screamed in pain.... Loud enough to be heard half way to the palace... And steam enveloped the area like a tropical fog. When it cleared Lumikki was seen face down, unconscious with smoke rising from her clothes. The expert waterbender had thought enough to protect her face, by turning her head and covering it with her hands. It didn't stop it from hurting or knocking her out of her boots and unconscious.Katara prepared herself to continue the battle, but could she last long enough for help to arrive?
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Zuko smirked as he defeated one enemy then turned his attention towards Aang. This time it was Katara who blocked his path as Yue ran to get help."Get out of my way or you'll end up like the other one. I just want the Avatar."he said as he stepped closer. But Katara took a defensive stance between Zuko and his target."Fine, but you'll regret this."he commented as the fight began.As Yue ran she came across Haruko "Haruko! Lumikki is hurt and Katara is fighting someone called Zuko." She told the former Fire Nation Captain."Damn... find Sokka, I'll go help Katara and Lumikki if I can."Haruko replied as she contiued on towards the Spirit Oasis. She was close but it would still be too late. Katara was good, but Zuko was better and more experienced in combat. By the time she arrived Zuko was gone with Aang's body and both Lumikki and Katara were unconscious. Seeing that Katara was less injured then the other girl she woke her up first."Come on, we need to check Lumikki, she's still unconscious and I can't heal her if she's hurt. Zuko got Aang, but we'll need Appa to find them."she said as she helped Katara to her feet.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Katara blinked a few times as Haruko helped her to her feet, she frowned as she noticed the now softly smoldering body of Lumikki who still hadn't moved, but a soft groan escaped from her. About three feet from her bare feet stood her boots, one upright, the other on it's side. No steam or smoke from either since the fireball hit her torso. Katara barely understood healing, but could sense and fix enough damage that it'd bring Lumikki around."I think there's some internal damage the way the water is acting Haruko. Feels like the ribs, right where she took the fireball."Lumikki groaned again, more fighting unconsciousness than the pain she was in. Since she was nearly face up, just slightly on her side, Katara didn't need help getting to the worse of it."At least she protected her face."Finally, Lumikki opened her eyes."Feel... Like I... Hit a brick... Wall that was.... On fire."She moaned. She tried to rise, but this caused her eyes to roll back and a soft clutch to the chest, just below her bosom, exactly where Katara was worried about. She shook it off, but had to remain sitting."Sorry... I failed.... We need... To go... After.... Intruder."She gasped out weakly, trying to get on her feet. She'd need a few more minutes they could use to travel... And her boots.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko frowned as she heard Katara,"Well we'll get her to a healer soon, but I would recommend that you get better at healing. I have a feeling we'll need it in the future."she replied, not knowing how right she was. She watched as Katara worked and Lumikki regained consciousness and heard what she said."You don't worry about that right now, you need a healer more then chasing after any intruders."she replied simply as she stood up and looked around. There was only one way Zuko could have gone, away from the city and into the dangerous lands of the north pole. Just then Sokka arrived with Yue, riding on Appa, who landed near by."What happened? Where's Aang?"Sokka demanded as he jumped down from the large flying bison."Prince Zuko happened, he knocked Katara and Lumikki unconscious then took Aang. I arrived to late to stop him."she replied with a sigh."We need to follow him before he gets too far away with Aang. Katara, can Lumikki travel? If not someone should get her to a healer, she can't fight with broken ribs."she added as she moved towards Appa and climbed up, waiting for Sokka at least.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Katara shook her head. More at Lumikki who was being stubborn as an ox, and trying to get to Haruko, Appa and intending to go."No way. I'll see if I can learn healing better while you guys rescue Aang..."She developed a tic as she grabbed Lumikki by the back of the coat."You stubborn mule! You're worse than Sokka, and that's saying something! If you don't stop... I'll sit on you!"Sokka laughed for a moment before letting out a"HEY!", finally climbing aboard Appa.Katara looked at Haruko."We'll be at the healing tent, Haruko. Good luck finding Aang quickly."She directed the still disoriented Lumikki towards the healing hut.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko watched as Lumikki tried to follow them, but nodded as she heard Katara. She rolled her eyes at Sokka's outburst,"Come on Sokka, Yue, we don't have time to waste. yip yip!"she said and Appa took off with his three passengers. They flew north, the only way Zuko could have gone to escape the city. It really was a bad idea as it seemed there was a constant storm going in this direction."This is going to take forever..."Haruko commented over the wind."What's that?" Yue commented pointing towards a cave which Aang just came out of, Zuko fell as he was knocked out by the Avatar."Well that was easier then expected..."Sokka said as they landed to pick up Aang. They also grabbed Zuko, but tied him up at Aang's request. Haruko wouldn't have wanted to leave him out here to die either. By the time they were on their way back to the city the moon had risen and was high in the sky. They had no idea what they would find when they returned to the Spirit Oasis.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	As Katara was learning the art of healing almost as fast as she had picked up everything else Lumikki had taught her, Lumikki grinned at the older lady, saying like a proud Sensei."See? cough, coughcough, cough student EVER! ouch."she winced."Hush now. You have broken ribs. Let the healing work. Keep at it Katara, you're doing fine."Zhao was already there at the Oasis, and Iroh was starting his soon to be famous "balance" lecture. The only ones hearing it being the fish themselves and the landing Avatar team... Plus one
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko bright Appa down to land and noticed Zhao as did the rest of the group. The commander of the Fire Nation Fleet had already captured the Moon Spirit and Iroh was giving his speech about balance and asking the man not to do what he was planning. All attention was on the man as even Aang tried to reason with him. For the briefest of moments it seemed that Iroh and Aang had managed to stop him, but then Zhao did the unthinkable and killed the Moon Spirit. Everyone could only watch in shock as Zhao left to finish his conquest of the Northern Water Tribe.Haruko clinched her fists and jaw, the air around her began heating up. She decided she would no longer stand by and do nothing. Her will to firebend had returned, and she would use it."General Iroh... please look after everyone here... Zhao will pay for his actions."she growled before chasing after the man. No one had noticed that Zuko was missing now as well."Zhao! You'll pay for your actions!"she called as she caught up to the man. He seemed shocked to see Haruko here."Ah Captain Haruko, you're alive... You'll have to tell me how you survived before I kill you for being a traitor. What would your parents think." Zhao said with a smirk. In his arrogance he felt he could beat her. He felt unstoppable now."You won't leave this place to tell anyone I'm alive,"Haruko replied simply as she took a righting stance."Such arrogance," Zhao quipped."Confindence,"Haruko corrected, which caused Zhao to growl. The fight began when he shot a fireball at Haruko, who caught it and reversed it back at the Admiral who dodge it. Then Haruko fired back, her fire was blue, which Zhao hadn't expected and the arrogant man was on the defensive as Haruko fired fireball after fireball, while Zhao tried to counter and fight back. It was a true light show on the bridge where they fought.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	With the Moon spirit dead, and the Moon gone, everything took on a greyish hue. Even eyes. Yue's, however continued to be a bright blue.At the healing hut, all bending stopped, and Lumikki got up. She clutched her ribs as she looked out. She was shocked by what she saw... Or rather, didn't see."The moon! It's... Gone!"This brought everyone in the hut looking in surprise and sorrow.Aang stepped into the spirit pool, and was immediately being circled by the remaining fish the Ocean spirit soon took him over and began it's rampage against the Fire Nation, with the water tribe giving reverence.It was at this point, that Iroh, now noticed Yue's blue eyes."You have been touched by the moon spirit, haven't you?"There just may be a way out of this...
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko had Zhao on the ropes, he knew she was a prodigy but how could she possible defeat him, a great conquer, and spirit killer! His ego had gone to his head, and every step backward was an insult to him as he tried to fight off the former Captain and traitor. His anger only grew as he felt she was toying with him, but he was wrong, she wasn't toying with him she was trying to humiliate him. Her anger at seeing him kill the moon spirit fueled her fire, made her more powerful. It was an amazing light show, but to only one witness as everyone else was focused on the Aang and the Ocean spirit as he attacked the Fire Nation army. Blue and orange flames lit up the bridge on which Haruko and Zhao fought, more blue then orange as Zhao was forced on the defensive."Your greed and lust for power out weigh your skills Zhao, you should yield before I kill you."Haruko called as she sent another fireball at the man."How dare you! I'll kill you for your insult!" Zhao shouted as he tried to counter. But his counter attack failed, in fact it blew up in his face when Haruko's burst of blue flames hit the fireball he had attempted to shoot at the young woman, knocking him back. It was during this break that Zuko stepped out onto the bridge."Captain Haruko, please allow me to finish Zhao. He attempted to have me killed, in a coward's way."Zuko said calmly as he stopped next to the woman. He knew who she was, they were cousins after all and he had respected her most of his life."He's all yours, Prince Zuko"Haruko conceded as she stepped back to allow Zuko to take over. If she though she had been angry, her anger was nothing compared to Zuko's. She watched as the pair fought Zuko had the clear advantage. Then she saw the Ocean spirit come around the corner and she gasped,"Zuko, the Ocean Spirit is here!"she yelled which caught the attention of the other two. It was no surprise when the Ocean spirit attacked Zhao. For a moment it looked like Zuko might actually help the man, but he let him be taken away by Aang and the Ocean spirit."For a moment I thought you were going to help him.""For a moment, so did I...Zuko replied before turning to Haruko."Everyone thinks you're dead, or missing.""Its for the best, I can't return to the Fire Nation if that is what you plan to ask. Not yet. But for as long as you hunt the Avatar, we are enemies. But I will never hold any ill will against you cousin."Haruko said before turning away."This is where we part ways."then she was gone, headed to the medical tent to check on Katara and Lumikki. She had been worried about them since the Moon Spirit had been murdered. By the time she would arrive the moon would be back, and Yue would have become the new moon spirit.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki and the others stood in awe as the grayish gloom was swallowed up by the appearance of the Aang Ocean spirit, as those around her fell in reverence, she stood there with a stupid look of total disbelief on her face. Her mind wasn't fully comprehending what she was seeing. The Ocean spirit was a koi. A treasure to be protected at all costs. But here it was, wiping out Fire Nation troops as a giant baby on a rampage against mere toys. Her heart was on it's knees, but her body refused to follow suit. That's what spared her life. The spirit glowered at her for a second before drenching her for her irreverence to it . This caused her stupid awestruck look to become a stupid grin with a"Thank you Ocean Spirit... Have fun, now."It was Katara who finally noticed the Moon returning, and led the celebration. No one yet knew what the great cost had been. It was at that moment Yue, the new Moon Spirit, gave Sokka a goodbye kiss.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko ran as fast as she could towards the medical tent, arriving as everyone began celebrating. She came to a stop as she noticed a soaked Lumikki and Katara celebrating. She was glad to see both were okay, but neither would know she had her firebending back at full power. In fact, only two people knew at the moment and that suited her just fine, as she had a certain Water Bending Master to challenge. Shaking the thought from her mind she looked up at the sky then towards Aang and the Ocean Spirit. They had driven away the Fire Nation fleet, but the spirit still seemed angry not having realized the moon was back."Aang, Ocean Spirit! The Moon spirit has been revived!"she called to the large being before she turned back towards Lumikki and Katara."Well I guess you're both okay then? You should dry off before you catch cold."she commented as she pointed at Lumikki. The battle had been won, at great cost and against great odds. Haruko was just glad they had managed to defend the city, with the help of the Ocean Spirit."We should make sure Aang is okay, can you two make it to the spirit oasis?"she added calmly as she looked over the pair.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki grinned at Haruko,"I'd hug ya, but you'd probably say I'm all wet!"She then saluted, flipping water around, saying,"Yes, mum. I go home and change... Just haven't decided into what yet."Katara did hug her."I take it with Aang and the Ocean Spirit acting as one, you had no problem finding him."She then shook her head and waved a hand at Lumikki."Pay Lumi no mind. The minute she saw the Ocean Spirit bigger than life and throwing a tantrum that would make two year olds blush, and the likes of which any Fire Nation survivors will never forget... She's been acting fruit loopy. Dare I even say, downright goofy."She hadn't rhymed on purpose. She then nodded as the Ocean Spirit seemed to take notice, and calmed down, making it's way back to the Oasis."I'll see you there in a bit, then."She started making her way back there.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko arched an eyebrow at Lumikki before hugging Katara back,"I'm glad you're okay,"she commented simply before nodding."If we don't meet you at the Oasis then the Palace. I'll make sure Aang and Sokka are okay."she added before she she started making her way towards the Oasis. She didn't know what had happened with Yue but she was worried about the others, especially following Aang and the Ocean Spirit's rampage. Having left right after Zhao's action she didn't know what had happened after that.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki got it for her inaction by her mom. All through her changing out of her wet clothes, she was lectured about disrespecting the Spirits. She couldn't get a word in edgewise.Katara somehow beat Haruko back to the Oasis, but not Aang Ocean Spirit. While she pondered how that was possible, Aang opened one eye, and looked at her, yet said nothing. She wasn't the one to talk to. As soon as Lumikki arrived and slightly less out of it as before. He excused himself, and took Lumikki by the wrist, calmly, to lead her to a private spot."We need to talk..."After going a distance from Katara, he talked calmly with Lumikki, even politely asking her what in the name of the Spirits she was thinking? Unlike her mom, Aang listened to her side, nodded, patted her back, and came back over.Sokka meanwhile was inconsolable, fearing Arnook was going to have his head... Literally. Nothing Katara could say would change that. Maybe when Haruko arrived.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	The other two had beaten Haruko to the Oasis because she had stopped on the way to check on any injured and made sure to send them to the medical area. So the others had already arrived by the time she got to the Oasis. She had also looked for Zuko as well, farther slowing her down. As she entered the Oasis she looked towards the others and could tell something had happened by the sullen expression on Sokka's face. With a sigh she made her way towards the other,"I see I'm late,"she replied as she joined the others."There is no sign of Zuko, but the Fire Nation is retreating."she said as she came to a stop next to Sokka and placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.She didn't tell them she had her bending back, that was something she was saving for a certain Water Bending master. It didn't take much observations to noticed that Yue wasn't among them and she could only guess that the Princess had become the Moon spirit."All is not lost Sokka, she will always be watching over you now. It take great courage to sacrifice oneself for others."she said in a low voice before turning to the others."We should head to the Palace, the Chief should probably know what's happened."she added as she looked towards the others.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Katara and Aang nodded calmly as Sokka shrugged with a half nod. His spirits were lifted a bit with Haruko's words. He'd probably feel a lot better once he learns that Chief Arnook will let him keep his head.Lumikki gave a simple nod, as she was ready for her part of the debriefing to already be over. Arnook looked at each of the group in turn."My heart aches hearing this news, yet rejoices knowing what it meant, and the time I had with her."He patted Sokka's shoulder reassuringly."You did your best. It was meant to be."Hearing from Katara and Lumikki about both Zuko and Admiral Zhou troubled him. He looked from one to the other and sighed. Blasted clean out of your boots, were you, Lumikki? That's a pretty powerful punch. Then seeing the Ocean Spirit as you did, after suffering the embarrassing defeat... The pain in your chest from broken ribs... Well, no wonder you were a bit loopy right after. Can't imagine how you wouldn't be. Again, you two did your best."Pakku went livid. Sokka was told to protect Yue with his life. Lumi to protect the Oasis and fish with hers. Both failed miserably. Of course he expected no more from Lumikki, after all. He wanted one of them to pay for their failures. At least one.The Chief walked away, ignoring the rant, inviting all in for a celebratory, and remembrance feast. The latter in honor of the new Moon Spirit.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko separated from the group before the feast and went back to where they were staying. She then changed into her dueling attire and made her way back to the Palace joining her friends without a word. Anyone who knew Fire Nation traditions would be able to see what she was planning. That meant there were very few in the room who would be able to guess what she was planning, given the Northern Water Tribes out dated knowledge of her home and it's Traditions. She doubted anyone one but Aang would know what she was about to do. She waited until after the feast, as to not disrespect the Chief or new Moon spirit.After the feast Haruko stood up and walked towards Pakku her expression hard as she stopped before the Water Bending Master."I Challenge you, Pakku to an Agni Kai, an Honor Duel. If you refuse you have no honor and prove that I am your superior in both skill and honor."she said coolie and waited for his answer. She made sure to announce her challenge loud enough that every one in the hall could hear her. This was meant to embarrass the Water Bending Master should he try to decline.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Whoever didn't see that Agni Kai coming had been living under an iceberg the last few days. Most everyone, even Pakku's students had seen how he first treated Haruko, then Katara and finally Aang. A good portion of them had already talked to the chief about jumping to a kinder water master as several saw how shoddy he had treated Lumikki over the years. Basically using her, a master in her own right, to 'weed out the weaklings' which disrespected both her and the student pitted against her.Pakku chuckled most cruelly. Here was a chance to get rid of both his thorns. He pointed to Lumikki. "In the event you are defeated by me..." One could almost hear 'little girl' in his tone. "There is your punishment. Take her with you. You WILL still need a waterbending 'master', yes?"Aang looked ready to object. Both the chief and Katara held him back and shook their heads. The Chief answered Pakku roughly,"And you will lose the last bit of respect from me. It'll be more honorable for Haruko to accept that condition than refuse it. If you are so sure of your abilities... Leave Master Lumikki out of it. Let her make her own decisions regarding whether to go with them to continue the Avatar's training."Pakku folded his arms, unbudging, forgetting an old saying. "Pride comes before a fall."Lumikki was fed up with Pakku. She whispered over to Haruko,"Kick his narcissistic ass. For everyone HE'S ever publically embarrassed. Including Aang."She then moved to stand next to the Chief.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko scoffed as she heard Pakku's comment,"She can chose whatever she wants to do, our duel has no baring on what she does or doesn't do."she replied simply as she watched the man."What is does effect is your Honor, and if you turn down this duel for any reason, everyone here will see that have no honor, and dare I say it, you are a coward."she added as she waited for the man to accept or back down. She could see the anger and annoyance building in the man as she waited. She didn't care one way or the other, after all she won no matter what the Water Bending Master chose to do."Fine!" Pakku finally said "But you will regret this little girl." he said as he stood. Haruko smirked as she lead the way outside into the court yard where they would have more room."Careful of your over confidence Master Pakku, it will be your downfall. You forget that I was a Captain in the Fire Nation Army."Haruko replied as she came to a stop and turned to face the man. The crowd had already gathered and were waiting excitedly. Some knew what had led to this confrontation while others were ready to cheer on the Water Bending Master to beat the Fire Nation woman. Regardless of which side the onlookers were rooting for, they would get a show, though perhaps not the one they expected."Ready?"Haruko asked as she dropped into her stance and Pakku did the same.After a long pause someone from the crowd called begin and the duel was started. Before Pakku could even make his first move Haruko was already moving, an unusual move for her in a fight as she usually waited for her opponent to move first. A lightning bolt shot past Pakku's head, missing by only a few centimeters, and hit a pillar behind the man causing it to collapse and leaving the Water Bending Master frozen in place for a moment, one which Haruko used, not to attack but to give the man a chance to yield."As you can see, I've regained my ability to Fire Bend, and I'm far superior to anyone you've ever faced. That lightning bolt could have killed you, if I wanted to. Instead it was to prove a point, yield or risk facing the full fury of the Great Granddaughter of Avatar Roku!"She said as she stood from her fighting stance expecting the arrogant man to indeed yield.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Even some of the waterbenders on Pakku's side clapped at the display. Chief Arnook and Lumikki looked like father and daughter as in unison they both mouthed a 'wow'. Katara, Aang and a few men rebuilt the destroyed pillar.Pakku looked white as the snow and ice around him as he saw the damage, he glared at his students. How dare they let the girl help them make the pillar. A look to the chief who had his arms across his chest, with a stern look. Lumikki almost looked smug, not the better than you kind Pakku had, but it was enough.Pakku threw his hands up and walked off, fuming.Chief Arnook breathed a sigh of relief."He at least had sense to know when he was outmatched. Unfortunately, you may have made him your enemy, I hope I'm wrong since his disrespect to others, especially females, was long before you came. Best not take chances. Although you have made many friends among us by showing exactly what you set out to, there is honor in the fire nation, it might be best that you leave at first light. I will see you off. Meanwhile, I invite you all for one last night of celebration."A kid tugged on Haruko, unafraid, "Can you do a fireworks show for us after?"Arnook smiled."A splendid idea, if you wish. That's entirely up to you."Sadly, a lot of people that were behind Pakku, left with him. Arnook tutted sadly."Their loss. Let us celebrate the new moon spirit!"
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko's smile grew as Pakku conceded the fight to her, and unlike Lumikki, her's was smug and confident. After the man left she made her way back over to the others, she knew Aang disapproved of violence but this was necessary and she didn't care if the technically 100 year old wanted to try lecturing her. He didn't have the same experience of the world as she did. As she felt the tug she turned her attention to the kid and arched an eyebrow."I don't know... that's not really my specialty... but maybe."she replied simply. She half hoped the kid would forget, because had never tried her hand at such things, her focus had been combat and the basics. But her hope were likely dashed when the Chief spoke up and she sighed,"I think about it."she replied simply before making her way back to her seat with Aang, Katara, and Sokka. She was ready to get some rest for the night and she was pretty sure everyone else was too, after all they had all just fought a major battle against the Fire Nation and it's most aggressive commander. But with Zhao out of the way Haruko had a feeling it would make their traveling easier. Of course there was no telling what Zuko had planned, nor did she knew that Azula would soon be sent after them.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	The chief knew his guests and many of those that stayed were tired, so the celebration of Yue's life and transformation to the moon spirit was relatively short. Instead of deep into the night like something like this would normally be, it seemed only to be a few hours. It was long enough for the kid who asked to have fallen asleep, however.During it, Lumikki made the announcement that if they desired, she would go with them to continue the Avatar's training, but only if the team wished to add her to their ranks. Aang and Katara we're all for it since two days were hardly long enough, but Aang had tried to give her every reason NOT to come by asking if she was sure several times. Sokka seemed indifferent over it, muttering something about needing an Earthbender too, and what was wrong with Katara taking over. Katara reminded him she didn't know everything either, and Lumikki would come in handy if the Fire Nation came after them again. Sure, Haruko had her bending back, but two masters would go farther in keeping them at bay.It was announced some outsider of the tribe, that came not from the southern one either, would be their new Master, making Pakku's firing official. Monroe Paula stood. The tall lanky young man towered over even his chief, as he nodded in gratitude for the selection. Haruko would have recognized him as having been pointed out practicing by Aang when he elbowed Haruko when they first entered. Again later as the best of those at the feast performing, and again earlier in the night helping to fix the pillar. He seemed thankful Katara had helped. There might be some rules changing soon in who all would be taught as fighters.The next morning, Chief Arnook and Monroe were among several well wishers to see them off for the Earth Kingdom to find an Earthbending Master. Lumikki stood nearby, ready to board Appa at the call by whomever, her bags already onboard.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	When Lumikki made her request to join them Haruko only shrugged, if Aang and Katara were okay with it then so was she. As the night went on Haruko decided to call it a night early and was the first one to return to their quarters. She didn't plan to stay up late, kno wing they had a long journey ahead of them in the morning.The next morning she woke up early and began packing for the journey and got dressed in the clothes she usually wore during their travels. She knew the next place they had to go was the Earth Kingdom, and no one hated the Fire Nation more right now, then they did.Haruko wasn't really one for big send offs, at least not any more as they last time she received one was before she left the Fire Nation, and that hadn't ended well for her, but it had lead her to the Avatar and a way to end the War her Great Grandfather couldn't stop. Not waiting for the send off she was already on Appa and waiting for the others."Come on guys we should go."she said calmly.Before they left the Chief told them of someone they should find who could help them get to Amasu, where Aang hoped to find an Earth Bending master. It was an Earth Kingdom General whom was apparently friends with Chief Arnook.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Iceberg barked as Lumikki climbed aboard Appa with the others."No, Iceberg. I'm sorry. You won't last very long outside of here. You take care of Monroe and Chief Arnook."She found that about the only place for her was between Sokka and Haruko. Sighing some, she leaned back in the seat as Appa was directed into the air with a"Yip, yip"from Aang."Let me first start by apologizing for my behavior upon our first meeting. Secondly, I'm actually glad you got your bending back, so now the question is, will you be the fire master of the Avatar, or plan to make sure you're at full song, first? Me, I'd want to do the latter, I kinda feel I want to after the moon vanished, although I feel confident enough."Although the question was seriously asked of Haruko and her plans, Katara smirked as it sounded suspiciously like a lesson for her and Aang."Keep confidence in adversity. Got it Master Lumikki."She looked at Aang.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko relaxed, knowing this part of the trip would be the longest until they reached land. She hadn't exactly expected the question from Lumikki, but she did know the answer. However, she had to address Katara first, not everything was some kind of lesson."Katara, I don't think that was intended as a lesson..."she commented as she looked at the girl pointedly before turning back to Lumikki."First, Aang must master Water and Earth before learning Fire Bending. It can be very dangerous and I hope Aang learns that lesson before pursuing Fire Bending. Second, I have a feeling I am not the one who will train Aang, though I will help out, something in the back of my mind says that is another's destiny and that mine lay elsewhere."she replied simply. She was pretty sure she heard Aang complain or at least groan as he heard what she said. Though she doubted anyone would pick up on the mention of her possible destiny, something about the way she said it almost made it seem like she expected something bad to happen to her.Pushing the thought aside she turned her attention to the skies ahead of them, watching for land, though she knew it would be some time before they arrived in the Earth Kingdom. She wanted to be sure she wasn't wearing anything that showed her connection to her home."This will be the most dangerous part of our journey for me... I haven't been back to the Earth Kingdom since... well in a long time."she commented as she looked out at the sky and ocean.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki seemed satisfied both with Haruko's correction of Katara and her response to her question. She nodded."I hope your destiny includes, at least, a long and prosperous life. Even if it isn't including the actual full training of the Avatar."She sighed."I feel my destiny changed the moment you all were put in the path of my life. Perhaps at the first layover, the two of us can hone our skills side by side, although they are opposite elements. I may be the 'master' for the waterbenders, but I'm also a 'student' learning from each of you."Lumikki seemed to suddenly wear an odd expression."Not sure that came out right. Sounded right in my head."She then shook it, hoping the gist of what she was trying to convey about teaching yet learning came out better than it sounded out loud.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko didn't answer Lumikki's first comment, but she didn't expect her destiny involved a long life, but she knew she was nearing a huge turning point. But no one could tell what the future holds for them, so she didn't worry about it as she did her best to relax. There were more important things to worry about at present, like the Earth Kingdom, who hated the Fire Nation even more then that Water Tribes did. Haruko didn't catch anything odd in what Lumikki said, and simply shrugged off her concern about her own words."There isn't much I could teach you, Fire and Water are quite different when it comes to bending. For example, my bending comes from the willingness to use it, determination to control it, and passion which can be a dangerous emotion. Besides that, only the Avatar can learn more then one element."she replied simply as she closed her eyes. She didn't mind flying, but it was rather boring to her especially over water when there was little or even nothing to really see. Besides that Sokka was once more trying to act as leader so there was no need for anyone else to keep a watch for land.The former Captain couldn't help but feel that with the defeat of Zhao and Zuko missing, an even darker shadow was building and looming over them to replace the old enemies. A more dangerous foe waiting, ready to strike. This time evasion would be harder and the fights far more deadly, the whole world was about to know of the Avatar's return.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki nodded."It came out wrong. I understand that I can't learn to bend fire any more than you can water. By a student learning from each of you, I mean what you talked about to control said element. Emotions, will, add in camaraderie and a balance of respect and trust."She leaned back in the seat, folding her arms."I started off wrong, and don't want to become the bitter old set in old ways master, like someone I'm glad you showed up."She finally noticed Sokka."What on Earth are you doing? We're too far north for land, yet. We've not been airborne an hour. Reeee lax!"Katara couldn't help but give her brother a smirk as if to say Sokka was going to have three girls on his case now. He'd be better off just enjoying the ride, before turning back to continue watching in front of them with Aang.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Haruko shrugged as she heard Lumikki's reply and looked off into the distance for a moment,"I suppose that might have merit... but I do not believe learning what I used to bend fire will benefit water bending. While our elements are a representation of balance, my techniques and your's will be very different."she commented simply as she did her best to relax. However, she couldn't help but feeling a slight sense of dread rising in her. It was like the victory in the Northern Water Kingdom had put a bigger shadow on their path, they were walking... or flying into more danger. Things were going to get harder for them, but she didn't think the others understood that quite yet. But her feelings could also be caused by returning to the place that marked a dark moment in her own path."Regardless of what we do, we should not linger in any one place for long. You forget that while we defeated the Fire Nation Navy, it is the Army which controls ground in the Earth Kingdom. They will not have felt the loss the Navy did, and will likely be more determined then ever to catch us once news reaches them that it was the Avatar whom defeated their great Navy."Haruko finally said at length. It was mostly to distract herself from her own feelings."As you know by now the Fire Nation's reach is great and it controls much of the once Mighty Earth Kingdom. Few cities have escaped control of the Fire Nation and those that have, are the only places we might find friendly faces or allies. And even then, I would be careful of who we trust."she added, her tone serious, mostly because she knew Aang was likely to disregard her warns, as she had a number of times in the past.Though she was finished with her warning, she didn't expect a reply as she did her best to calm the growing feelings of dread in her mind.
Fire & Rain: An Avatar AU (Frozen Princess & LadyWolfie)	Lumikki just sort of hung back in her seat, taking in the ride. Sokka seemed to be behaving himself, but then lemming Momo started. Squeaking and moving all around the hapless waterbender, investigating the newest member of the team thoroughly, was the order of the day."Maybe I should have brought Iceberg after all, but he wouldn't have survived the travel that well."Finally, Momo stopped scurrying all over her head and sat atop it, being able to see over Aang instead of from Aang. With a smirk, she couldn't help herself."Hey, Haruko... How do you like my new hat?"she asked with a slight point to the ball of fur sitting atop her head quietly, looking over the vastness of the ocean.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	His mind was shattered, swimming in and out of short bursts of consciousness. Not enough awareness yet for complex thoughts, but just enough to feel the jagged, gnawing pain ravaging the space between his ears, and just behind his eyes. His thoughts slowly returned to him, as his brain felt and processed more of his environment. The sounds of faint, hoarse coughing of in the distance, followed by a remorseful wailing a little closer. Metal clattering. The scent of unwashed bodies and grease...Max Sat up quickly from his spot on a cold rusted metal floor, his gray eyes wide, his face covered in streaks of black soot and glistening with sweat. His eyes then immediately clenched shut as the full force of his headache struck his nerve endings, making him bring one of his powerful hands up to hold the side of his head. He groaned.The year was 3045, hundreds of years after the human race had developed space flight, faster than light travel, and had colonized many worlds and star systems in a spherical shape with the earth directly in the center.The "Inner Sphere" it was called, and like humanity would always do until its extinction, there was war. And in this advanced age, the preferred weapons were colossal engines of destruction. Huge, robotic war machines called, "Battlemechs."The Inner Sphere was ruled by several noble houses, with each territory squabbling over star systems and resources like the feudal kingdoms of old. The constant warring and destruction had cost humanity a heavy toll in lives and knowledge, with many advanced technologies developed during the Star League era having been forgotten and buried under the rubble of countless battlefields.Only two decades ago, the infamous mercenary company known as "The Gray Death Legion" had unearthed an intact Star League era computer core, filled with the advanced knowledge that had been lost. Realizing its true value, and not trusting the local faster than light telecommunications network, the Legion made many copies of the data contained therein, and did their best to disseminate it themselves. In the few years that followed, a technological Renaissance was stimulated, and humanity made great strides in the realm of medical, military, and civil engineering.Liao engineers had been working on something beforehand, and the release of this old information had suddenly made older documents and blueprints suddenly make sense. Breakthroughs were made.Max was not entirely sure what the breakthrough was. All he knew was that his mercenary company had been hired out to acquire it.Like all grunts, he was only given enough information to complete his part of the mission, which was to pilot his fifty ton war machine, and to keep faster moving enemies off of the bigger, more powerful, but ultimately slower mechs, allowing them to punch a hole in the enemies defenses. Colonel Lawhorn had given him an order, and like a good Soldier Max had followed his orders without question. All he thought about was his payday. A payday that would likely never come now.Despite his best efforts, his company of eight mechs had been ambushed and outgunned by a vastly superior force. Within the first few minutes of battle, focused particle cannon fire had ripped through the Colonel's massive 100 ton king crab chassis, leaving it to be just another smoldering, rusted heap on some forgotten battlefield. One by one their mechs had fallen, with Max's Swayback being the last. He could still hear their voices screaming in agony over his radio, as they burned in the ferro fibrous coffins.... He flinched. As a new recruit, Max had barely known any of them, he was just a green, eager newcomer, wanting to prove himself in the eyes of his new comrades.His mech had suffered a reactor hit, making it overheat and shut down. His adrenaline had been pumping hard, and he had been bloodthirsty. He grabbed the battle rifle from its stowage rack, and kicked open the hatch of his stricken mech. He likely wouldn't do much, but he was determined to die with a weapon in his hands, and to go down fighting. As soon as his boots had hit the battle torn soil at his mech's feet, an enemy war machine had unleashed a barrage of short range missile fire at his Swayback, striking true. The Lance Corporal didn't remember much after that. He surmised the concussion from the blasts nearby had knocked him unconscious.Max rubbed the side of his head, easing the pain away, and slowly scanned his surroundings. He was in a four foot by eight foot metal room. Behind him was a small one foot square window, covered with bars, Artificial light filtered in from it from the sodium vapor lights outside. In front of him was a barred wall, similar to a prison cell.No, exactly like a prison cell. This was one of those mobile containment facilities, made to be set up in a hurry. And from the sounds of things, he wasn't the only prisoner here. Many people had been captured, and some in worse shape that he was. He tested his arms and his legs, stretching them, checking for any injuries. There was a slight twinge and soreness in his left shoulder, but otherwise he was not seriously injured.Inside of the cell was a folded gray blanket, similar to what one was issued in boot camp... Made of recycled plastic fibers.He grunted, and stood up, going to the barred door at the front of his cell. He knew it was futile, but he gripped the metal in his powerful hands anyways, and tried to shake the door, testing it.It rattled slightly, but otherwise held strong. A soldier then walked by, dressed in a Capellan green uniform, holding a combat rifle. The soldier was just out of his reach, else he would have tried grabbing at him.Just so long as he sent one of these bastards to hell before they killed him, he would be satisfied.He ran a soot covered hand over his short high and tight haircut, and adjusted his sleeveless olive drab undershirt they had left on him. He was likewise wearing his camouflage cargo pants, but his feet were bare. His boots must have been taken away when he was knocked out. His belt was likewise missing.No shoelaces or belt... Damn.He thought as he relaxed upon the bars, watching the patrol guard as he walked. Lost in thought. He looked into the cell across from his. He could barely make out the human outline in the shadows...Max shook his head, and slumped down against the metal back wall of his prison, snatching up his blanket, gnawing at its sewn edge with his teeth, ripping at it, growling angrily.Finally, the seam ripped. Max grinned, but then stopped as he saw the guard walk by again, eyeing him this time. Max wanted to strangle him with his bare hands, to choke the life from his damned haughty face.However, the soldier just averted his eyes, trying to give the illusion of a man defeated, someone who was no threat at all. The guard continued walking past.As soon as he was out of sight, max continued his work, tearing a few long strips off of his blanket, and tying them together like a makeshift rope."Just you wait greenie..." He wispered under his breath to the guard walking around outside. "...I'll have a few choice words for you, soon enough..."
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	All in all, it had just been a shitty week. A hard drop with limited intel, there ahd been a fair amount of reliance on recon work for the company to advance. Of course, that relied on the recon forces being able and ready to spot enemy traps. Mostly, they were good at it, until they wound up discovering that their active probe scans were being jammed. The alarm went out, but it was too late and most of the company was caught in a crossfire.They'd all fought like brazen bastards, and done probably mroe damage than an ambushed group had any business doing, but it was amazing what coudl happen when you were backed into a corner. One of the last to fall had been Tomoe, widely regarded in the company as one of the better pilots of light mechs, but also for being insanely reckless, relying on her mechs speed and agility to let her perform some truly remarkable feats of combat, but also putting her mechs through a lot of extra strain and punishment. She'd been piloting a Jenner with distinction, putting her weapons to good use and trying to keep the heat off of her comrades, but numbers told on them hard. A lucky round from a gauss rifle had cripled her mech, and she hand't waited to see what follow up fire would come for her. She'd bailed out, bidding her beloved mech farewell, adn made for some kind of safety.As it turned out, that hadn't gone so hot for her.A burst of autocannon fire had shredded the light woodland that she'd been heading for, the explosion of wood and steel had perforated her with light shrapnel, and laid her out. When mdeics had arrived to see to them, at least to see if they were surviors or not, she'd been bundled off by the enemy. Medical treatment and a small barrel of sedative later, she found herself coming to in a containment unit.She took stock of her room, and of herself. Those that had taken her had picked the shrapnel out of her, but not much beyond that. Still, it meant she wasn't wounded in ways that would slow her down. She stood up, stretching, finding a multitude of small aches adn pains that came from getting dusted with wood shrapnel. She wished she could have said that it was the firtst time she'd been hit with something like that, but alas, witht he way she fought, wounds like that were shockingly common.Tomoe wasn't the tallest person from teh comapny. just under five adn a half feet tall, she weighed in at around a hundred adn fifty pounds. At a glance her background put a lot of people off their guard, showing a lot of very clear signs of her Kuritan heritage. A closer look showed that she was a bundle of corded muscle, and she had the reckless aggression show that she wasn't ready to take crap from anyone. Her hair had been unpinned, adn hung loose down ehr back, psat her shoulder blades, adn she desperately wanted some kind of way to tie it back properly. Lacking that, she moved to the door to ehr cell, and rattled the door, checking how well secured it was.The short answer was pretty damned solid. She rattled it again, the noise starting to attract the attention of the guard that was patroling the aisle. She picked herself up with her hands on the bars, bringing her face more fully up to teh space to look oiut. She gave the guard the sweetest smile she could, all teh while mentally picking out he positions that she arrange his teeth in a necklace if she got her hadns on him for a few moments."Hey big guy. You look tense, want me to help you relax a little?" She called. The man made a face that dripped disdfain for her, but she didn't let it put her off. She knew she'd have to be rather lucky, adn him rather stupid to get anywhere with this, but it was worth the try.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	The trained soldier, while not on the field that long, had lived with military doctrine since before he knew how to wipe his own ass. His father had served in the Lyran army, and then the federated commonwealth after that. Ever since he took his first steps, his father had handed down everything he knew. "Always be aware of what is happening around you. Dont ever be caught daydreaming..." That memory alone made him gnash his teeth.Max hated his father with his very core. But he had to admit. The old man knew what he was talking about. And so he listened, watched , and felt.The sounds of the dungeon were all around him, and so he filtered most of them out. All he listened to was that green cappelan gaurd, pacing back and forth, regular as clockwork. He memorized the pattern of his boots.Max contemplated his situation carefully, as he tied three strips of his recycled blanket together using square knots, and tested it. His makeshift rope was roughly eightteen feet long, and felt quite sturdy.The rest of his blanket, he draped over his shoulders, mith his makeshift rope in his hands, hidden under it.He stood up, and approached the bars of his cell door. The prison gaurd came walking past as usual, and a feminie voice could be heard, flitatious, yet husky. The voice was familiar, yet he couldnt place it.That didn't matter anymore, as Max saw his opportunity. The gaurd had turned away from him, to look at the cell across from him.The merc just grinned, and casually slid the bundled rope through the bars with one hand, with his other arm a few bars down. He loosened the rope, grabbing the raw end with his other hand. Max tested its weight. He then took a deep breath, and furiously tossed the rope around the front of the gaurds neck with deft precision.Max did not hesitate, and yanked upon the rope, steping backwards with all his might, gripping the rope with force. The gaurd stumbled backwards, gasping, dropping his rifle to the floor. He reached up to loop his hands in front of the rope that was cutting off his air supply, and struggled. His kevlar helmet was knocked from his head, and skittered to the floor.Max jerked the rope from side to side, then back, leaning on it, winding his arms into it, and even standing sideways on the bars, pulling against everything he had, screaming at the top of his lungs.The guard's face turned purple as he struggled futilely. Suddenly, there was a loud popping noise, as the makeshit rope broke in two.Max swore as he landed to the floor, hard, knocking the wind out the mechwarrior.The gaurd, dazed and weak, stumbled forward a few steps, only to trip on the raised walkway. He lunged foreward, Hitting his head upon the lower area of Tomoe's cell door. His neck bent at a sickening angle, followed by a wet crunching noise. His body then went limp.Max swore agan as he scrambled to his feet."Shit!" he yelled. He then called out to the cell in front of his, as the other prisoners hooped and hollered thier cheers. "Hey, that bastard has keys on him..."
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Tomoe Felt a sick thrill go through her as she saw the prisoner across from her made a play. The makeshift rope was a decent play, though it clearly needed another layer of reinforcement as she watched it break. The guard fell at what could be possibly the worst possible place. SHe hissed in vexation at the whole thing. They were close now, close to breaking loose, and here they were possibly beaten by a broken blanket rope and sheer bad luck."Really? The guard has keys on him? I'd have never thought of that champ!" Tomoe shouted back to be heard over the roar of the others. She tested the bars again, knew that they weren't coming apart no matter what she did. Which meant she ahd to find a second option. She also needed one other thing."EveryoneSHUT IT!" She roared out. The cheering died out. "You want another guard to come in here looking for this one? To keep us quiet? Clam up and let me try and work something out here." She said acidly. When the prison was quiet again, she started moving. She gripped the bars, and used them as an anchor, walking her way up the door. The bars were strong, but had a decent amount of space between them. She slipped one of her feet through the door. She snaked her leg down the door, patting around until she could feel the guard, thanking hte Gods that she'd grown to be a long legged bitch.She felt her toe touch metal, metal that jingled. She smiled, seizing it between ehr toes, and lifting. THey wer connected on a string that seemed to be extending from a retractable unit, and that suited her fine. She stuck her arm through the gap in the next bars, letting her lay hands on the keys. She had a wolfish grin on her face as she let herself slide back out of the door.Feet back on the ground, she reached back out, pawing around the door until she found the lock. One deft turn later, she was kicking the door open, shoving the dead guard aside. She crouched, pulled his side arm free, checked it, and nodded. She also found a sturdy combat knife on him, which she added to her equipment. She was armed. And that meant they were in business.Tomoe crossed the hall with a smile, and unlocked the door to the man who had started this whole process."Nice play champ. You ready for the encore performance?" She asked him, stepping out of hte way to let him out while she moved to start unlocking the other doors. This was happening. They were starting a real escape. A little more luck, and they'd be on the move.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Max let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, as he saw a military camouflage covered leg work its way out of the shadows and fish the guard's key away from him.A moment later, a familiar and most welcome face appeared, and unlocked the door to his cell.It was the female Kurita mechwarrior, that had been part of the other 4 man fire team for his company. To his shame, he couldn't remember her name. Tammy was it?He cast the trifling thought aside, and slapped her on the shoulder. "Good to see you're not dead..." He murmured.One by one, they opened the cells of the prisoner, letting them out, and checking them for injuries. For the most part, if a little starved, most of them were prisoners of war, Free Worlds League soldiers, mechwarriors, scientists, technicians, and a few civilians. Disturbingly however, there was no one else from his Merc Unit. Max spat at the floor and swore.Most of the released prisoners were grateful, with one notable exception.She was a sullen faced young brunette woman that could be considered beautiful, but her back and arms were covered in bruises.She did not react at all when her cell door opened. She just stood silently, looking out the window, watching a few scattered raindrops fall through the beams of sodium vapor light outside."You're early..." She said in a flat tone, laced with acid. "...just cant get enough can you?" She then growled as Max entered her cell. With speed that caught the mercenary off gaurd, the woman spun around, screaming, and charged at him, thrusting and slashing with what looked like an improvised knife. Max jumped back just in the nick of time, as her blade cut through the fabric of his shirt, but didn't touch his skin.He immediately assumed a defensive stance, his brain going into full combat mode. His instincts kicked in. His eyes focused on the sharp piece of metal in the woman's hand, only to see it waver as she faltered."You...You're not a Capellan?" she murmured, her voice quaking. Max did not relax his guard, assessing her posture. He visibly relaxed when the shiv dropped to the floor. The woman then looked around, and saw that the other prisoners were out, in the hallway. Her hand went to cover her mouth, as she sobbed. "I'm sorry..." She wailed. "...They always come around this time, and take me out into the camp, where they.... Do things..." she said, sobbing as she fell to her knees.Max's initial reaction was to help her, comfort her, but the soldier in him kept him cautious, and detached...Then he thought about what the woman had just told him. He then looked to Tomoe, and then to the dead Capellan guard. He was about the same size as Max, and the visored riot helmet would hide his face well enough. Max helped the woman to her feet, snatched up her shiv from the ground, handing it back to her, handle side first. "You might need this, as we are getting the fuck out of here..." He then looked around at the group of just released prisoners. "...all of us." He murmured, low and deep.That comment brought a few nods and more than a few whispered words of approval. He looked back to the girl. "Tell, me, where do they take you, and who all shows up?"The girl began speaking in low, hushed tones, talking of how there is an area nearby, consisting of stacked metal crates, creating an ad hoc private area, away from the rest of the base.The mercenary then quickly began stripping the soldier of his uniform, and quickly donned it. It was almost a perfect fit, but the boots were a size too small. He just crammed his feet into them anyway, improvising, and keeping his toes curled.He then grabbed a set of manacles from the wall, and gestured to Tomoe. "I have an idea..." He murmured, He then raised up his hands, getting everyone's attention."Alright, we are not out of the woods yet, and we have one chance. Here is my plan..." He said to everyone. "I pretend to be a guard, and take this one with me, in the manacles, but without their securing pins..." He started. "...We go to this area that was described, and we wait, and ambush any thirsty perverts that decide to show up, weakening their presence...""Absolutely not!" one older prisoner growled. "...Why should we trust you? How do we know you won't just leave us here and escape, using us as a smokescreen? I'm getting out of here right now!" he exclaimed, as he started walking towards the door. More than a few people growled their agreement, and started to walk with him.Max's adrenaline surged. With one well placed punch to the side of his head, the older prisoner's legs buckled, and he fell to the floor, groaning. "We have one shot to get out of here. If you hose this up by jumping out into a hostile, unknown environment, and alerting these bastards, I will send you to hell myself..."Max's tone was dark, low, and absolute. There were a few grumbles from the crowd, but no one else said another word.The mercenary then went to check on the older prisoner, and raised him to a sitting position. He then handed the man the keys to the prison."When I come back, I will knock 3 times..." He said to the man, who looked at him in a mixtures of anger and disbelief. "...At which point, we leave. All of us. In the event anyone else comes in that door, or you hear gunshots, then it means we have failed. Jump whoever comes in, or try and make your escape as best you can..." Max murmured to himThe old man's eyes went wide, but then he nodded, and clutched the keys tightly.He then stood up, and shouldered the gaurd's rifle, as his knife and pistol were already claimed by his company mate. He handed her the manacles. "You ready for this?" he murmured to her, as the tip tapping of a light rain could be heard starting on the thin metal ceiling above their heads.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	So much happened, and in so little time. The brief conflict between the others made Tomoe almost move into action. If she took up the rifle and head out, she could likely take out a huge number of the guards, and raise enough hell to buy the others a chance at escape. Maybe not a good chance, but a chance. But she pushed the urge down, knowing that she had tasks to perform, and that these people were her people now too. Same company, same unit. A new family, a new group to link to. She pushed the thoughts from her mind.She didn't really know Max well, she'd seen him around during briefings and the like, there was a always a certain amount of turnover in that way. Frankly, no one had expected her to survive as long as she had, one of the most aggressive pilots in the unit. She'd figured that they left her on scout detail more often than not just to try adn keep her in mechs that would prove easier to replace when she wrecked them. And that was fair really, she was pretty rough on the hardware. She weighed the weapons in her hands, knowing that while she wasn't a bad hand with a rifle, she always did her best work up close. Pisolt and blade were her choices when she had them, though a nice shotgun wouldn't go awry for her either.Tomoe had to admit she wasn't fond of the idea of being used as bait. There were a dozen ways that it could go pretty wrong. But it was a chance to get personal with these pricks. She took the nife sheath and belted it on to her lower leg, letting her pants ocever it nicely, while she tucked the pistol into ehr waistband, safely out of the way on her back. She let out a breath, and took the manacles from Max."You realize this is insane, right?" She asked him, closinghte manacles on one wrist, sliding the lock pin in place on it, but not the other. Both cuffs being loose was hard to manage, very hard to hide. But she manage one. "But I guess that means you picked the right bait for the trap." She gave a grin, not one that looked like it had a lot of mirth, it was the look of a well fed predator anticipating another meal coming. It looked a shade unhinged."Let's do this." She answered, heading for the door She hunched her shoulders in, trying ot look afraid, to look vulnerable, and she was managing reasonably well. The compound was dark, the light rain blocking out any real moon or starlight, and small pockets of light were set up from some of the buildings. The base was actually reasonably well set up as a forward supply depot, and that annoyed her. This is the kind of thing that they should have been able to spot on satellite recon. This shouldnothave been a surprise. There were a lot of dead people that shouldn't be.She kept her stance, didn't look around as much as she could have, not wanting to make it look like she was actively plotting, even if she was. They only had one really good shot at this. Her pulse was punding in her temples, hammering away a rapid pace that had her almost quivering in place. To the caual onlooker it might have looked like she was understandably terrified of what was coming. But she wasn't. There wasn't an ounce of fear in her now, just anticipation and adrealine.The location that had been mentioned was coming into view, and Tomoe was instantly picking out points along the area that she could use. Points of cover, hiding places for the dead when she was done with them. She was glad of hte rain, adn the fact that the place wasn't paved. Mud hid spilled blood easily enough in the rain. Tomoe walked to the wall where she was out fo sight and had a place that it looked like manacles would be linked to. She swung them into place, adn let otu a long, slow breath."Keeo yourself scarce." She warned Max. She didn't think the kind of people that would be coming here wanted much of an audience.She didn't have to wait long for hte first arrival. He smirked as he saw her, advancing on her while lossening his belt."Got a new one it looks like. Always liked me a little Kuritan bitch on the side." he mused. Tomoe didn't look him in the eye until he was close."You'll just love me then." She countered. The man faltered a moment, adn she used that moment to swing her manacle free, the loose end hitting him in the face, staggering him while she pulled the knife free from her leg and leapt onto him, bearing him tothe ground while she rammed the knife into his neck. It was quick, it was quiet, and it was exactly what she needed at the moment. She leaned her head back, letting hte rain fall on her face a moment, letting it all wash over her. She stood up, looking to see wheree Max had positioned himself."Help me movce this asshole." She called quietly, getting a hold of the dead mans feet, and trying to drag him away.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Max nodded to her, likewise agreeing that this was indeed insane. "Yeah, but think of the fun..." He murmured to her with mock confidence.Their chances were slim at best, but he figured it was better to die on his feet, than to be enslaved in some capellan factory, making parts for things that were used to kill his employers.Likewise shouldered the door open, and looked around quickly, surveying the layout of the base.His viewpoint was limited, given that the makeshift prison was on a lower elevation than the rest of the base. There was however a small office pod perched up high on a spire like hill in what he assumed was the center of the base.From what he could see, this was a forward supply base, with many heavy airlift containers stacked nearby. "Alright, that matches the description of what that young woman told us..." He murmured to his mercenary comrade. He had Tomoe walk in front of him, making use of her submissive, hunched position. He thought to nudge her forward with the rifle to make a show of things for anyone looking on, but decided against it.A light, misty rain obscured visibility all around in the dark night air. That would make things noticeably easier. Max led her inside of storage pens, and sure enough, there was a space set up between the large shipping container pods. They even had a makeshift hitch point for handcuffs welded up high. Max quietly smoldered at their tactics, but none the less, figured they could use it to their advantage.Max lifted her handcuffed hands up to the hitch point, making sure they were loose. Tomoe would be able to relax her arms and lean on the cuffs to rest her arms, until they were needed. He looked around, seeing that no one arrived yet. He then drew her knife, and placed it in her dominant hand, with the blade running parallel to her forearm, concealing it between her arm and the surface of the metal containers.In response to her request to make himself scarce, he murmured: "Alright, I'm going to climb up on one of these containers, and try to keep a better lookout" He whispered to her.Max quickly climbed up a set of makeshift stairs made from smaller shipping crates, and took a vantage point, allowing him to survey the immediate area. He was greeted by an excellent view of his immediate area. "lightbox close": "Close", "lightbox next": "Next", "lightbox previous": "Previous", "lightbox error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.", "lightbox start slideshow": "Start slideshow", "lightbox stop slideshow": "Stop slideshow", "lightbox full screen": "Full screen", "lightbox thumbnails": "Thumbnails", "lightbox download": "Download", "lightbox share": "Share", "lightbox zoom": "Zoom", "lightbox new window": "New window", "lightbox toggle sidebar": "Toggle sidebar" He was right in his assumptions of this being a forward supply base. and from the looks of things a fairly quiet one. He casually walked along the tops of the containers, even spying a makeshift bridge across them made from a scrap armor plating. It looked to be rectangular, from the arm of a spider mech maybe? It had a melted hole in the center of it, likely from laser fire. He walked across it, holding his rifle just as he saw the prison guard hold it, close to his chest, to keep up the illusion.As he walked, he took in the area, making mental notes. The base was fairly small and compact, nestled in a tiny mountain valley, with only two points of entry to the East and West. Near where he was, he saw 3 Maxim type hovercraft, neatly parked in a row. Near them, through the haze of the mist and the sodium lights, he could barely make the outline of a smaller class mech chassis, possibly a spider or a commando, he wasn't quite sure it was so dark. Further away he could see the buildings on the supply base. He could only see one building that fit the description of a barracks, which at best might house eight to twelve soldiers. They already took out one, meaning that left seven to eleven.He chuckled a little at that, thinking of an ancient chain of convince stores that had started on old Terra. An ice cold big gulp would really hit the spot right now....Max grunted, and made an entry to stock up on soda at the first available opportunity. His adrenaline was running high, as his eyes darted this way and that, looking for any movement. One lone soldier finally made his way thought the three foot wide space between the crates to find the hidden area. Max said nothing, but raised his rifle to the soldier. The soldier waved him off dismissively.Max just shook his head, and chuckled, turning away as he walked to keep the soldier in view, it still being dark enough so that he wouldn't be recognized.He stood ready to pop that guard with the rifle should Tomoe have any trouble. The guard made a few snide comments, with Tomoe making a good spirited counter, enough to make him grin. As she jumped out of that shadows, and was upon the Capellan soldier like a hungry wolf upon a rabbit. She had dispatched him quickly with her knife.Tomoe was apparently an efficient killer, that would come in handy later. Max was getting ready to jump down and help, when he saw the flicker of a flashlight approaching his position. "Shit..." He murmured. He jumped down quickly, and helped Tomoe drag the corpse to the stack of smaller crates nearby, shoving his lifeless body under the tarp draped over them. He then relayed everything about the base that he saw to her."We have 3 more coming..." He said to her quickly, as he stashed the rifle nearby where Tomoe could get to it quickly. He then took the newest guards knife, and stuck it in his belt. "Look alive..." He said, as He clambered back up onto the containers. The three people were close enough now to make out minute details... Two looked like normal Capellan soldiers, while the one in the middle was shorter, fatter, and wearing a longer trench coat. He relayed these details down to Tomoe."Lets try to keep Trench coat alive if we can, maybe get some Intel out of him. He looks important." He whispered.He then inwardly swore as one of the soldiers stayed outside the crates, and lit up a cigarette.The other guard, and the short, fat man began making their way into the hidden area.Max made silent hand motions to her. First he pointed to both of his eyes, and then held up two fingers. He then pointed to her. Max pointed next to the entry way, then to himself, then made a slashing motion across his neck.The mercenary then walked across the tops of the containers, towards the entryway, staying out of view of the two others. He stood just above the smoking soldier, who was completely oblivious. These guys were lazy, and apparently complacent.Max took a deep breath, placed his rifle on the top of the container, and drew the knife he had taken from the other guardsman. He then jumped down, gripping the knife in both hands tightly. With his full weight bearing down on the blade, he drove the weapon into the Capellan's green felt hat, and into his underlying skull. He twisted it twice as his feet hit the ground, making sickening, wet crunching noises in the man's head.His body collapsed silently, but spasmed uncontrollably for a few seconds. Max let out the breath he was holding, as he felt his lungs start to burn a little. He yanked the blade free, shouldered the third rifle, and hoisted the dead soldier onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry fashion, and quickly walked down the narrow space, hearing the sounds of scuffling just ahead. He dropped the dead soldier, ready to spring forward with his knife as he rounded the last corner....
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Tomoe knew that Max was probably right. The different outfit probably had some kind of distinction, but it didn't really matter that much to her. He was an enemy, and there wasn't much choice in what to do with enemies in her book. She was running hte numbers when they approached her. The shorter man cocked his head at the sight of Tomoe."Not our usual fare. We'll need to speak to the selection guards, I don't like surprises." The man groused. "But we'll make do. Grab her and bring her to me, I want her on her knees." The guard approached, and Tomoe started to tremble. It likely looked like fear, but it was nothing short of pure adrenaline. When the guard reached for the manacles, he found one of her hands came free."What the " the words ended as a small, hard fist crashed into his throat. Tomoe had her knife free and made a hard slice on his leg, ripping open his femoral artery, and he fell, gasping from a crushed larynx.The short man gasped, and turned to run, but Tomoe risked a throw with her knife. It landed high on his leg, and as he fell she pounced on him. She stuffed his face into the mud, silencing his cries. She drove her fist into his head several times until he stopped screaming, and stilled. When she rolled him over, he was still breathing. Not quite how she'd like to handle it, but there was work to be done here. She left the man where he lay, and dragged the other guard out of sight. More weapons, she made sure to loot him for what he had. Then it was time to go. She didn't really figure that the rate they were going that the other guards would be able to miss the loss of the dead men.She gave a signal to Max, and checked the rifle that she'd taken. Loaded, primed, ready. Not as much ammo as she'd like, but enough."You wanted the fat ass, he's all yours. I think it's about time to go active and get this over with. Standard layout for a base like this will put main power not far from here. I shut that down, their comms go dark, and I can mop up the rest of them. Can you get the others moving once the lights go out?" She asked.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Max nodded to Tome once in approval, as he eyed the dead soldier, as well as the dazed officer. "...You're going to make someone a fine wife one day." He teased her. This was a stroke of luck. The markings on the fat man's jacket marked him as a prison warden.He took a mental stock of the weapons they had acquired thus far:4 standard capellan combat rifles, all of them descendants from the venerable SKS design. Each with 30 round magazines, as well as 16 extra fully loaded 30 round magazines.7 fixed blade knives of various designs, 4 standard Capellan 9mm automatic pistols. The Warden was likewise armed with a pistol, but his was an artistic, pearl handled variant of what looked like Lyran manufacture, resembling the German Luger. Max Scoffed.He listened to Tomoe, and Nodded. "Yes, I can get them moving, I very much want to get the fuck out of here, to, but before we do anything rash, lets gather some more intel. For all we know, that unit that ambushed and killed everyone else is just over that ridge. If we go loud, we risk someone using a short ranged transmitter to warn them..."He then gave the Kuritan a level gaze. "If I'm wrong, and we are isolated out here, I will cut you loose, and let you slaughter these fucks..." He growled as he kicked at the fat Warden. "...to your hearts content. I'll even help, we can go loud and proud..." He said not so much to her, but to the fat warden who was coming to."The little man looked up at him, and then at Tomoe in sheer terror. Max had to admit that it was satisfying, seeing a pompous enemy officer full of fear.Rain started to fall a little heavier now, prattling all around them, forming small puddles that ebbed and splashed... Max wasted no time, and grasped one of the warden's thick pinkies. Using one of the knives, Max sawed it quickly, with one down stroke cutting into the bone and tendons, halfway through the joint, and then taking it off with one upstroke, and tossing it away.Before the terrified man could scream, he grabbed the officers hat off of his head, and then shoved it into his mouth. The man screamed into his hat quietly, clenching his eyes shut, with tears flowing from them generously. As his cries died down a few minutes later to choked sobs, max tore the hat from the officers mouth, and looked him dead in the eyes. His face lost all expression, and went white.Now that he established that he was willing to hurt the individual he would save time trying to convince the waste of flesh that he was serious."Here's the deal..." Max murmured low and deep, jabbing the tip of the knife into the Capellan's crotch, making him whimper. "...I'm going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer me. In the event I don't like your answer, I start by taking an inch off of your penis."Markus then went quiet, holding the soldiers gaze. The older fat man's face froze, but he slowly nodded. He had proved quite cooperative, and answered all of Markus's questions quickly, and completely.The base itself was little more than a rear POW camp, with a few reserve units, and limited supplies.Of the Maxim tanks nearby, only two were operational. One of them was outfitted as an APC, while another was an ad hoc experiment of cobbled together spare parts. The other two were derelict, and just being used for parts.The only complete mechs in the area were the spider nearby, which was in good working order, but had suffered minor arm damage. There was also a lone locust out on patrol, on the other side of the hill.In addition to the four soldiers they had just killed, there would be two more. A lone radio operator, as well as a watchman in a tower by the front gate. Once the man had said that was all he knew, Max dug the knife a little deeper into the man's crotch. All that did was make the man insist that that was everything, and then start pleading for his life in a most pathetic manner.Max just shook his head. This bastard had intended to come down here, and rape, ravage, and do god knows what else to some poor girl. The mercenary didn't even think, and let his anger mount. Holding his knife tightly, he shoved the wide blade straight into the warden's throat, staring straight into his eyes, as he clenched his teeth angrily, veins defining in his muscular neck.The warden stared back at Max in disbelief, as his eyes went bloodshot, filled with sheer agony. Max felt no remorse whatsoever, and only got angrier. He twisted the knife violently, popping the neck vertebra in the wardens throat apart, with a sickening, wet crunching sound as the tendons and ligaments snapped.Max yanked the blade free as gouts of blood erupted from the wardens severed throat.The warden's head was still alive, looking at him, blinking in disbelief as his eyes slowly went gray, and his mouth slowly stopped moving.The mercenary spat angrily at the dead warden, kicking his corpse once, then twice, then again as hard as he possibly could, slamming his body into the metal crates nearby.His breathing was erratic, as he huffed and puffed for several seconds. After he regained his composure, The mercenary soldier picked up the bundle of rifles. "Alright..." he murmured to Tomoe over the rain. "...Go and kill the power, then execute those two remaining Capellan fucks." He growled low and deep, almost inhuman in its tone."I will get these weapons to the prisoners. I have no doubt the two remaining idiots will give you much trouble. When you are done, go and have a look at the Spider. I'll see what I can do with the Maxim Transports. And Tomoe..." He said to her low and deep. "...Comrade, remember, these bastards killed our friends. Don't be quick, make them suffer and pay for what happened to the colonel, and our brothers."Max didn't look the same at all, he was distant, darker than before. He didn't give her a chance to reply, leaving her with her rifle in the rain, pattering around her.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Tomoe didn't dwell on this sudden change that Max seemed to be going through. It suited ehr fine to go live, and if he wanted her to be more off the chain, then that was fine by her. The wolfish grin was back, and she scooped up the rifle without a second thought. She was on the mvoe quickly. The main power was coming from a portable generator. She knew exactly enough about this kind of unit to know it was expensive and dangerous. She settled for hitting the main breaker on it, closing off power to the base proper, plunging the place into darkness. Then she was on the move.She knew that she could hole up, wait for each guard to come by to check out the generator, but that wasn't what she was all about these days. She ahd a goal. She ahd something that resembled orders, though she knew she and Max were going to have to have a very serious talk about issued orders when there was no established chain of command. His orders suited her, so she follwed them through. Now though, it was time to really go to work.The communications building was on her way, and she noted that the guards were running for the generator. A few well placed shots, adn she'd have them laid out. But no. Not now. Not yet. She jogged tot he com building int he dark, and rapped on the door sharply. A moment later it unlocked, and opened."The hell is going on?" The man within demanded, starting when he saw a smaller framed woman looking up him with ehr head cocked to one side, smiling at him lopsidedly. Tomoe was drenched from her time in the rain, and that moment of hesitation bought her the time she needed. Her hand shot out, the knife in it neatly slicing the tendon on his knee, making his leg give out under him. She stepped intot he building with him, closing hte door behind her as he started to scream. She crouched beside him, covering his mouth with her hand adn shushing him."Shhh. Shhh. Easy. It's okay. It'll all be over soon." She prosmied him. She caught his hand as it went for his pistol, and she broke it without a second thought, twisting the fingers harshly. he howled into her hand, and she smiled. She could spend a lot of time with this one, but that wasn't the point. She ahd other tasks this night. She drove her knife up into his ribs a few times, and felt him go slack. As he staretd to fade she took his pistol and the service knife on him. No rifle, but she had one already. She smiled as she noticed he had smallish feet, and took his boots. She had them laced up adn on when the power came back on. She let out a long slow breath, and went back outside.The guards were coming at a dead run towards her, adn she only smiled as the tower painted her with a searchlight. She was walking slowly, arms out to the sides, lettign the rain fall on her easily, eyes tilted tot he sky for a moment, and she could hear the falter in the step of those coming for her. She darted ehr hands down and lifted them back up, a pistol in each one. Shots rang out, hitting each guard int he chest, and staggering them. These two were more careful, bringing body armour to the task, which made her pistols much less useful. Still each shot took a toll, staggering the men which opened her up to close the distance. She cast the pistols aside, no longer needing or carinng about them. She kenw the guard in the tower would be drawing a line on her, but iut didn't matter now. She had her dance partners.Low sweep of a blade, blood in the air, a shout of pain, and then she was driving her knee into the groin of the other man. He gave a shout of pain, but there was a dull thump as she made contact, showing he was armoured there as well. Still she swung a kick to the chest of her first man, feeling ribs shift from the hit, sending him off balance. As her second target came for her, swinging his rifle around Tomoe kicked the barrel away from her and slashed his wrist, opening a wound adn a vein. As he released the rifle, she seized it and dropped to one knee A pair of bullets smacked intot he mud near her, coming through the space her head would have occupied if she'd stayed standing. Ignoring her partners, she fired a burst at the tower itself. Rounds smacked into it, and she tracked the bullets into the shooter. There was a heavy crash as he fell from the tower to the ground. By then she had other things on the go.She tossed the rifle to one of her attackers, he caught it reflexively. She came into range and dragged a blade across his stomach, knife angling under the armour to lay him open, his guts spilling out of his body. As he fell to the mud screaming, she felt a fist hit her head, sending her to the side. She threw herself that direction, getting some distance, and then smiling as her last foe came at her. He was leaning down, a low tackling stance, and she was ready for that. She met him headon.His size and weight meant she'd lose a collision, but she slid onto ehr back and kicked up at him, heaving him over her and face first into the mud. As he was rising, he felt a flare of pain in his neck, and dropped. Tomoe rolled him over and smiled down at him."That's your spine. Neck down you're not much good. But you'll live for awhile like this. Remember this moment. Remember what happens when you're on the wrong side of a war." She told him. With that she head back towards the prison. When she met the others, the rain had washed hte blood off of her face, but ehr fatigues wer still stained more red than normal from her escapades."We ready to go?" She asked Max.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Max looked older somehow, his eyes sunken in. His mind was on fire, scared beyond belief that he had just killed a man, with a knife, slowly, in cold blood. Yet the rest of his mind was at ease, and relaxed. He felt as if the eyes of his former colonel and comrades were upon him, looking on in approval. He had never done something like that before, save for when her looped his shredded blanket around the guards neck. Oh hell! He had done that too!Icy claws of self doubt and loathing played at the edge of his mind, as his reality was tested. He had be running on adrenaline and hate before, and had been able to distance himself from what was happening, just focusing upon the moment, whatever needed to be done to survive. Now his stomach felt empty, and bottomless, as fear and remorse crept up his spine as he clutched the soggy bundle of rifle's to his chest, as he slogged through the mud back to the prisoner barracks, with the rain pelting the ground all around him.His boots were still too tight, and his feet were toes cried out in agony at being pinched and bent for so long. Max scoffed, and tossed the wrapped bundle to the ground, and plopped down in the mud on his rear, frantically tearing at his stolen capellan boots, ripping them off of his feet, and tossing them aside with a frustrated growl.What in the hells was he doing here, on some god forsaken world many light years away from the comfortable farmer's life that he could have had if he had just listened to his parents? He could be driving a combine somewhere, and could have married that cute red head 19 year old that had been following him around since she was 5... He took a few deep breaths through clenched teeth, Shook his head, ad stood up.There would be plenty of time for wallowing, reflection, and self doubt later. For now, he had a promise to keep. Max stood up, feeling a cooling rush wash over his feet as they sank into the cool mud and water about an inch. Nothing had ever felt so good as that. From this point forward, if he survived, he promised himself he would take nothing, no matter how small, for granted ever again. He snatched up the soggy bundle, and walked a little faster. He stood at the door, and as he had promised, her rapped upon the sheet metal panels with the backs of his knuckles. He then opened the doorway, and disappeared inside.He was greeted by many smiling faces at first, the first of which was the older gentleman from before that had challenged him. "I was wrong about you..." He murmured in his gravelly voice that sounded like he chain smoked and drank a fifth of bourbon for breakfast each morning. His expression then changed to one of worry. "...What of the girl?" he asked in a worried tone. "...Where is she?" He asked in a more urgent tone.Max just grinned "..Shes fine" Max whispered back. "...I cant say the same for the guards that she's about to eviscerate, but hey. I brought us a care package..." He finished, tossing the bundle to the floor, and unwrapping it, revealing the stolen Capellan weapons. He handed one of the rifles to the older gentleman, and then watched as the more able bodied people also armed themselves.He then knelt down where everyone could see him, and he scratched out a crude diagram on the floor with one of the knives."This is the layout of the base..." He murmured to everyone, and then pointed to the vehicles. "Two of these still work. Two Maxim transports, while we put Tomoe in that Spider..." He continued saying. "We steal enough supplies and what what not to last a week, and then we head east to this spaceport, about 300 miles away from all of the action to the west. We then either charter, steal, or Hijack on a dropship, and get the hell out of dodge..."Everyone then murmured and nodded thier heads in approval. At that point, two pistol shots were heard ringing out somewhere in the distance.Max's face lit up, and met the older mans gaze. "Fuck..." both of them said, as the scrambled for the dorr, tossing it open. Max clutched his rifle, training it high, watching as he heard rifle fire quickly follow, watching as the rounds shredded through the guard's chest, with him falling over the railing soon after. Max then grinned, "..Good." he said flatly. He then saw Tomoe standing in the center of the base's staging area, holding another rifle, grinning at him. "Yeah..." he replied to her, reveling in the moment. For the next few moments at least, they were soldiers again, not just prisoners.They made thier way to the Maxims, with the 20 ton Spider Mech standing over them, its upper torso lost to the gloom and mist of the rain. As the warden had told him, one of the Maxim's was in good working order, and easilly had enough room in its 50 ton chassis to carry all of the prisoners, with room to spare. The older gentleman introduced himself as Jason, and offered his piloting skills to drive the transport. As they had discussed earlier, Max left checking out the spider to Tomoe.Max directed a few of the release prisoners to gather up all of the food, medical supplies, and ammunition they could carry, and load it up onto the first Maxim Hovercraft, while he looked at the rest of them. The other two were little more than wrecks, one without an engine, and the other stripped of its drivetrain and hover blast fans.The last one however, was.... Well, interesting.The space normally used for cargo and armored personnel had been been taken up by a makeshift turret system that housed two weapons. One was a snub nosed particle cannon, side by side with a large laser barrel. It was effectively a heavily armed, lightly armored hover tank. Normally such a thing would be operated by a crew of four, but it only had one seat in it?Max ran his fingers over its controls, and started its fusion core. The hovercraft roared to life as its fusion reactor spun up its plasma loops, and then fell silent. It was still running, just equalized, and quiet.Just something they had cobbled together from spare parts, whatever they had lying around. Hopefully it would work for him...He spun the control levers for the turret, and chuckled as the heads up display whirred this way and that, tracking in the infrared, showing him a completely open sky, filled only with cold dark rainclouds."Yeah, I think we understand each other..." He whispered to the hovercraft.Max then went to everyone else, outside. He spoke to Tomoe and Jason directly, giving them a radio frequency to tune to for thier own, hopefully masked communications."I got the one Frankenmaxim started, but its questionable, but better than nothing I suppose.... How does that spider look?"
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Tomoe nodded as Max explained that he was taking the tank. Suited her just fine. She'd been checking out the Spider, thirty tonnes of pure speed and agility."How's it look? It's still got a Pitban LFT 10 system on it! You have any idea how hard those are to find these days? Give me one of those and I'll make that mech dance on the head of a pin thirty meters in the air." She assured him. The mech wasn't well armed, it only really carried a pair of medium pulse lasers, but that was enough in most cases. Creative use of the rest of hte mech would compensate, though it wasn't easy on the unit. There was a large slab of armour that was missing off of one of the arms, but she knew that she could compensate for that. Otherwise, it all seemed to be in good shape."Get everyone moving then. I'll fire this beast up and get her going." She said simply. She'd located a neurohelmet, and had it tucked under one arm. She advanced on the mech.It wasn't a long ride up the small automated scaffold lift that had been set up to allow access to the mech, likely for a maintenence shakedown. When she reached the cockpit, she sighed, and vlamped hte helmet onto her head. The mech was in good repair, up here at least. She sat down in the control seat, and seated her neurohelmet on. She felt hte contacts rest on her head, touching her scalp. She let out a long slow breath before activating the mech. She closed her eyes a moment as the heavy pulse of the fusion drive lit up under her. She opened her eyes, and...It was like waking up for the first time.The night peeled away, the rain not nearly so oppressive and obscuring. Her mind was filled with sensory information that was fed into her, and she coudl already see all around her. She felt her face split into a grin, loving the feeling of being behind the controls of a mech again. She eased the Spider forward in a tentative step. The mech responded easily, a single flowing movement moving it foraward. She pulled up her com system, aiming at the preprogrammed bands, finding one that looked like it would be linked to the base and the vehicles."Max, you reading me? I'm going to put this thing through her paces, see how far out that Locust is. Get yourselves moving, and catch up when you can." Sje said simply. She threw herself into the mech then, pushing it to accelerate as hard as it could manage.The spider all but leapt into motion, tearing up great divots int he mud as it charged forward. Tomoe grinning wide as she felt the way the mech responded, almost an eagerness to move coming from the DI computer. Most people said that a mech was just a collection of components, that the computers were simply that, a sophisticated computer, but Tomoe had always wondered if there was mroe to it. After all, if it was justa computer, then there was no real reason that a new pilot often experienced headaches from the link. Each mech had a feel to it, a way it moved, something that was almost akin to a personality, but not quite. Still, she was loving the speed, and she kept tracking ehr eyes along hte sensor feeds, looking for that Locust. She wasn't worried about it hurting anyone, but she was concerned about it calling in help.Her sensors pinged, finding a distant signal, right on the edge of her sensors."Echo 2, good to see you out here! You're early, am I relieved?" The com call came in. Tomoe knew she on y had seconds to answer, so she put as much of a masculine growl in her voice as she could when she answered."Affirmative, head on back." She said quickly."Thanks! Looking forward to a little downtime." The locust turn and came towards her."Max, Locust is inbound. We've got one shot at this. I can set him up for a hit, but you're goign to have to take him out before he send a signal out." She sent out ont he other channel before letting out a slow breath. The Maxim's could keep pace with her, weren't far behind her, easily within weapoins range. But if the locust got up to speed, it was going ot be a problem to bring down. She stepped her mech tot eh side, opening up the path she'd taken, adn the Locust noticed, moving to head down the path. As it moved past her, she swept an arm out, giving hte mech a hard push, while signalling to fire her weapons.Burning laser fire lanced out, one shot going wide, but the other dragging up the leg of the other machine, burning through armour and intot he hip actuator, staggering hte mech."Now Max! Light him up!"
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Max sucked in air through clenched teeth as he felt the hovercraft's rotors spin up, letting loose a roar of air that erupted from its base.It was an unnerving sense of vertigo, feeling the repurposed APC float around a little, side to side before its corrective jets stopped and stabilized it.It felt odd, Max had not driven a hovercraft since basic training, but her felt as if he had always known this craft. He linked his wireless communiocations system with that Of Tomoe's Spider, and Joseph's other Maxim.He then checked the Maxim's system health, and everything looked green. The unconevtional reactor was in an excellent state of health, being made for a much larger craft, as well as the overcharged jets. It would be unnaturally quick for a fifty ton vehicle, and was suprisingly well armed.He edged the differential drive sticks forwards, and the craft nudged forward. He the pulled back on the left stick, as the craft spun to the left on its axis, sliding to the right as it did a few feet. It would be like driving on ice. A little awkward at first, but not impossible.He grinned as he saw Tomoe's Spider step into his view, and then jog out into the night. He felt his adrenaline surge. This was it, they were actually going to do this...Max slid both sticks forwards, as he felt the crafts jets direct it after the spider, following behind at a comforable two hundered feet away. He glanced down at his radar, and saw a blue freindly blip behind him, the other Maxim keyed in as a freindly on his IFF.He then saw another blue blip on his radar, and his eyebrow arched. Max then felt his heart skip a beat as he heard the radio transmissions of the locust they were warned about. He grit his teeth as a moment of panic crept up his spine. Max then found his resolve as he heard Tomoe reply, and then grinned as the reply came back.That poor bastard was too tired to care, having been out on patrol all night for several hours. He was probably distracted with thoughts of a hot shower and a warm bed.He stayed close to Tomoe, trying to mask his radar signature with that of hers. Crosshairs appeared on his heads up display, giving him real time data on the smaller twenty ton Locust chassis.Its spindly legs always looked comical to max. It was a cheap, easily produced mech, and arguably one of the most numerous. He couldnt argue with its agility though, as he had piloted one many a time. He waited patiently as they got closer, keeping Tomoe inbetween himself and the Locust.As soon as he saw the bright red flash of her medium lasers spit out towards the Capellan mech, he drifted out quickly to the left, Zeroing in his crosshairs upon its center torso. Just as Tomoe roared out to light him up, Max slammed the triggers to both weapons on his control sticks.The large laser went off first, slicing through the night air with a hiss, as it carved its way deep through the paper thin armor of the locust. Maybie a quarter of a second later, the particle cannon let loose an incredible white blue beam of intensified energy, punching through the already damaged core of the light mech, turning it to slag.The striken locust tettered for a moment on its spindly little legs, and then fell over into a flaming heap, leveling the few cyprus trees that had been there a moment before.An alarm claxon went off immediately, as his heat levels spiked. Max clenched his teeth in annoyance, as he watched his heat gauge climb up into the red zone for but a moment, then quickly bleed off as gouts of steam flared out the back of his hovercraft.They had installed the heat sinks needed, but the heat sensors were likely a little too sensitive.He checked the status of his weapons, and saw that the large laser was recharged and ready to fire. The particle cannon however was still charging, and would take a few more seconds."Alright, good to know..." He murmured to himself."Alright, good job Tomoe. We just scored our first kill... Now lets see if we can make it to that forward base they spoke of...."
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Tomoe had a wolfish grin on her face as the mech fell. She paused only long enough to approach the fallen mech and place the foot of the Spider on the cockpit. She pressed down, popping the the cockpit flat. No enemies behind them. No chance of signals being sent. No loose ends. She felt a deep sense of satisfaction that seemed to come more from the mech than from her, and that made her smile. If it was going to encourage her like that, then there wasn't much point in her trying to be restrained about what she did. And she wasn't going to play nice with what they were up against. If all she could really do was set up targets for Max and his tank, then fine, so be it. She'd manage just fine.She put the mech into motion, calling up any loaded nav points that it had, and what she found widened her smile into a grin. She was looking at hte forward base, the patrol route that this mech had been assigned to, as well as the main patrols for the base itself. She relayed what she had to Max, sending the data package to his tank, knowing that he was likely a better person to plan this than she was. Her approach was likely to just charge into the base adn hold the trigger down until the lasers fused from overheating. She eased the mech into motion. She wanted to keep herslef alert, but also wanted ot make sure they made it where they were going ready to fight.Tomoe blazed something of a trail for hte hover tanks. They never did terribly well in any kindof real terrain without some kind of pathfinding. She kept ehr eyes ont he sensor readouts, wishing that she had some kind of additional intel reports, some kind of uplink that might give her satelite link. So long as she was wishing, she wanted to be back home with her family, safe and in bed with a large bottle of sake. Both things were as likely to happen in hte next ten seconds. She gave her head a shake. Training crept back in, pushing back her thoughts of home. There was a word for what she was feeling, something her mother had taught her.Heimthra was the word used for longing: for home, for the past, for things to be as they once had been. Even the gods were said to know that yearning, from when the worlds were broken. She wasn't as sure about Gods, but she knew that the feelign could be dagerous if left unchecked. Great warriors could be felled from within far easier than from without. She needed to be sharp.Finally, well into the night, her sensors lit up. She slowed her mech, allowing more power into her sensors, pushing her reach out somewhat to just tag the other signals that she was getting."Max, we've got multiple contacts. System reads...a Locust, a COmmando, and...shit, a Blackjack. We playing this your way or mine?" She asked over her coms.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	The young mercenary's shirt was bunching up uncomfortably at the small of his back, due to the hastily constructed seat of his maxim heavy hovercraft.His electrical systems had developed a hiccup at some point during the trip, and his display's were plagued by intermittent noise and static. Every so often Max would thump the base of the displays, which would make the noise go away about half of the time. He could only guess what in the hell the problem was, given the cobbled together nature of this craft. He only prayed it held together long enough for him to get to something more reliable...Then he heard Tomo's voice come in over the intercom, visibly shaken as she swore at the sight of the Blackjack.Max grit his teeth. Those carried long range auto cannons, Not enough firepower to kill them outright, but in the right hands could easily whittle them down until the other two mechs closed in to bring their shorter range weapons to bear."Fuck..." He murmured into the coms. The radar blips were steadily growing closer and closer, even though their IFF's were keyed in as friendliest. "What to do, what to do..." he murmured to himself softly, forgetting that he still had a hot mic..."Concentrate all fire on that Blackjack..." He whispered into his microphone. "I will soften him up with long range fire as soon as he gets in weapons range. Use the valleys and gullies to creep up on them."He then swore again as he turned off his coms. The longer and the more they were at this, the more it seemed like a fools errand. All they had was the element of surprise. He could try to squeeze off a shot from here, as the Blackjack was the closest, and within range of both his laser and particle cannon. But hell, if he missed, it would give away their position, and all of them would be on top of their little force like white on rice.he nudged his throttle a little, and then positioned his Maxim hovercraft on top of a somewhat high hill overlooking the valley, with a visual on the Balckjack, which was approaching them.He then heard an incoming transmission coming in from another channel. "Spider two seven, this is reaver, what's your status?" The female Capellan voice came in over the airwaves.Fuck it. They only had once chance at this... He killed his hover jets, and allowed the craft to settle itself on top of the hill, steadying it. He then swung his turret at the blackjack, said a quick prayer, and then hit both his trigger's as his crosshairs turned red.White hot particle blasts shot out of his main weapon instantaneously, ripping through the air towards his target. He had been aiming at the blackjack's oversized cockpit, but saw both the laser and the particle cannon blast barrel into the Blackjack's left thigh, making it explode in a brilliant display of melted myomer and slagged armor. The blackjack teetered for a moment, and then fell over hard on its side, facing away from them.All at once his alarms went off, as his heat gauge spiked, blaring red warnings across all of his screens. "Tomo!" He roared across the coms, "Hit that Damn commando!"
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Tomoe was on edge, knowing that there wasn't going to be much chance of things going well for them. She let out a breath, planning out an assault, a plan of action to somehow squeak out a victory. They couldn't afford to take too miuch damage here, they had to do this right. She looked at her waypoints, seeing hte route she was suppsed to be follwing, but she had to agree with Max, staying on course was likely a fools errand. She had to be ready.The lasers in the torso of the mech were primed, hot and ready to go, she just needed a target. She was getting close tot he Blackjack, knew that she could spring a trap easily enough, but she'd need heavier support fire from Max to actually bring it down. She heard her com crackle, a request coming in fromt he Blackjack, but before she could answer the lances of fire arced out to hit the mech, pulling a leg off. She grinned wolfishly. It was a perfect shot to her, and then came the call for hte Commando. Dangerous enough, she knew she had to act now, before the enemy had a chance to organize, to bring more heat down on her, or worse, the tanks. Terrain wasn't great for the hover vehicles, and they could get pinned down fast.The mech leapt forward at her urging, the feeling of eagerness still there, like the mech wanted to push itself as hard as she did. There was a grin as she made a beeline for hte COmmando, no stealth, no subtlety o it. She saw it swinging an arm around, adn she prayed that the mech knew how to dance as well as she wanted it to. The harsh glow of a charged laser came clear, adn was aimed at her. TOmoe threw the mech into a sidestep, rotating around in a pivot to swing the whole mech over to the side, the harsh blue light of a Large Laser slashing through the space she'd just been in. She gave a laugh of pure singing adrenaline, riding hte high as she plowed forward. Teh two lasers in ehr torso lanced out, scraping along hte armour of hte Commando, leavbing brilliant molten lines in the mech beforee the enemy pilot realized that she wasn't goign to duel with him. SHe was set to collide with him.The Commando started to move, trying to extricate himself fro teh scenario, but Tomoes was too close for that. She goosed the jump jets, thrwoing herself forward harder, adn raising her up off the ground as she came at him. The knee of her Spider came up in a perfect collision witht eh enemy cockpit, shattering hte viewport and caving hte structure in completely. She blasted the jets hard to push herself up over the now slagged mech, and spun her around as she did so. She landed on the ground adn slid, gouging a trench in the ground as she slowed, her mech leaning forward in a crouched posture. Before there was another moment to consider any other course of action, she was off again, the mymer strainging to match ehr orders, and she felt the distant phantom pain of the empathic connection she shared with the mech. Strained muscle. Nothing to worry about now. The Locust was retreating back towards the base, but she had him dead to rights. Laser fire arced out, slashing along hte Locust, while it turned torso to face her, adn blazed away at ehr with a brace fo machine guns. Teh fire stippled along ehr mech, one burst hitting hte arm that was missing armour, but not enough to do mre than piss her off. Laser fire stabbed out again, this time piercing clearly through the mech and sending the Locust staggering as it tried to recover from damage to it's gyro. Tomoe leaned her shoulder intot eh movcement, hammering into the lighter Locust, sending it flying intot he ground. The armour was pierced, adn it looked like the charge had caved int he last of hte gyro on the mech."We're clear for now!" She called into her com for Max to hear. They were living gloriously right now by sheer balls and brutality.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Max clenched his jaw in triumph as he watched Tomoe's spider take out the final hostile with a well placed mecha knee strike to its cockpit, shattering the glass and likely crushing the pilot to an unrecognizable pulp. He glanced at his radar display, only to see it clouded with gray static. He smacked the side of his console sharply, the metallic clang echoing in the cockpit. The LCD display flashed white for a second, and was then replaced with a wire frame display of the battlefield, with no remaining radar blips upon its surface.Max felt the gyro stabilizer of his hovercraft start to rattle. He turned in his seat to look at the large, armored disk that dominated the rear bulkhead. As soon as he did, it leveled out, and the craft hovered lightly."Alright, good..." He murmured low and deep into his headset, as he maneuvered his hovercraft thought the terrain to the fortifications nearby. It appeared to be a large perfect square of plasteel prefabricated barriers, hastily set up, with several heavy crates stacked inside. No sensor signatures of any living creatures, and no activated power sources, save for a few halogen lamps set up around the perimeter of the walls.He veered his Maxim in along the roadway, and up into the open area through the walls. It wasn't even a gate per se. The roadway itself intersected inside of the walled structure, criss crossing in the center. Four stacks of crates in each corner, with several trailer type mobile building set up here and there. It seemed eerily calm and quiet. They were far enough away from the battle lines and deep within enemy territory at this point, so the Cappelans had moved most everyone forward. That would explain why they were able to plow through the guard lance they had just made contact with. They were likely a reserve unit consisting of pilots that were not held in high esteem, with substandard mechs that of which maintenance was just not a top priority.Max thought for a moment, as he made a few passive sensor scans of the area. Nothing was showing up on his heads up display at all. He glanced to his map, and saw that the starport was at worst, only a day away, deeper into enemy territory, where they likely wouldn't have any more problems, until they made contact with the star port itself."Alright..." He wispered into his headset. Technically there was no need to whisper, it was just a force of habit of his when behind enemy lines. "Move everyone into the structure, and lets see whats in these crates." He continued. "...I'm going to have a look at the systems on this maxim, and see if I cant figure out whats causing my displays to malfunction."
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	Tomoe was starting to come down from the adrenaline high that she'd been riding during the fight, and that left her almost shivering. She took a few deep breaths to steady herself, trying to find that cold focus that she'd been taught to seek in moments like this. Using her father's heritage to try and tame her mothers, it had...mixed results most times. She heard Max making the statement about going over the displays in his tank, and she couldn't resist the answer that came to mind."They probably malfunction because they're held together with spit and chewing gum. But good luck!" She had a cheery tone to ehr voice as she spoke. She was...well, decidedly not helpful at this point, but she had to admit she wanted to get a look at her mech adn see if there was anything in the base that they might be able to use to try and patch up her missing armour point on the arm.She eased the mech forward, feeling like she was actively fighting the mech in some ways, like it wanted to justgo, but she needed it restrained. It was like a hunting hound on a leash, straining to do what it was made for. She found the gantry that would be used for a light mech, probably where the Commando had been parking before it's untimely demise. The Spider didn't seem to accept being powered down easily, she had to initiate the shutdown process twice, but it did finally die out. The feeds from her neurohelmet went dark, and she sighed, lifting the heavy job off of herself. She set the helmet down, adn massaged her temples, the beginnings of a headache coming in, though not nearly as bad as she'd gotten with some other mechs. The DI computer and her just hadn't had enough time to get acquainted with one another yet, but that could come in time. She remembered the first time she used her Jenner, and the way it had felt like someone was trying to split her skull with an axe after she was done her training cruise.She opened the hatch, and got out of the mech, stretching as tall as she could to keep the stiffness out of her joints. The gantry was a portable job, something meant to be set up in places like this, but they had the needed lift system to let her ride back down to the ground. She slowed the lift as she passed the missing armour point on the arm. There was a large hole in it, likely from when she'd been raked by the locust's machine guns. It was a wonder that she hadn't lost any more functionality out of the limb. This only cemented her idea that she'd need to pick through the base and see if there was anything that they could use to better prosecute their little activity here.She was pacing down lines of crates and containers, noting the sheer lack of movement from anything that wasn't their crew. She'd not found any real heat signatures or the like on the sensors from the Spider, it looked as though the mechwarrirors that had been guarding the place had been largely left to their own devices. Likely rotating out from the POW camp they'd broken out from, that still left them in good shape. She let out a breath as a wave of long suppressed fatigue started to wash over her. She was going to need a nap. And some food.And Gods dammit, she could use a fucking smoke.
"Carrying The Ashes Of The Fallen" (Alvis Alendran / Pazzo)	"Max, and his Maxim" he grumbled, as he was elbow deep inside of the electronics bay of his jury rigged 50 ton hovercraft.The vehicle was little more than a mass of spare parts, all wired together by some bored technician with nothing better to do. Max was amazed that the conglomeration was even functional, let alone effective in combat. It had been there for him when he needed it though, and already had a few mech kills to its name. "Maxim..." He breathed. The original Maxim hovercrafts were designed and built in the year 2689, more than three hundred years ago. It was intended as a heavily armed armored personnel carrier, piloted by a crew of 4, to deliver troops to combat, while supporting them with weapons fire. The stock engines were powerful for that era, able to propel the massive vehicle up to speeds around 130 kilometers per hour. Its base armament was considerable, consisting of an array of short and long range missile racks, backed up by a trio of heavy machine guns. The rest of the craft was devoted to carrying armored troops. He had been one of those armored troops not too long ago, and held a great respect for the design, and its comfortable accommodations.After he had a better look at the vehicle, he saw it was just as much of a Maxim as it was a flesh and blood monkey. The only thing this one shared with the original was the frame, and exterior armor panels. The engine was the first thing he had noticed, being significantly larger than what he had remembered, and if anything, looked like it belonged to a mech, not a hovercraft. The presence of a stabilizer attached to it confirmed his suspicions. They had used a salvaged reactor, gyro, and targeting computer, and somehow mated them to an old Maxim. He found a data plate nearby, seeing that it was from a CRB 20... "Holy shit..." He breathed, as he wiped the grease and grime away from the stamped sheet metal, revealing its serial number.He recognized it. These components belonged to a 50 ton crab mech, the very same one that one of his brethren had piloted. It was lost three years ago, with no clues as to what happened. "Well, that solves that mystery..." He grunted. The mech must have been destroyed, and then later salvaged. The computer systems of the crab had apparently integrated well with the vehicle, allowing it to be piloted by only one person, and appeared to be stable. It was as if the machine itself refused to die, hungry, and eager for revenge. Into its turret, two salvaged weapons had been rigged, the before mentioned large laser, as well as the particle cannon, giving the vehicle a good amount of firepower even for a medium sized chassis.The work itself was actually impressive. The welds and fabrications were damn near perfect, as if it was treated like a work of art. The wiring however, had been haphazard, with things cut and sliced wherever, with minimal insulation.After running a few diagnostic checks, he was able to pinpoint the interference to a few badly grounded cables. He simply wrapped the frayed areas in gorilla tape, and everything had seemed to stable out. He made a few minor adjustments to the reactor, thinning its mix, as well as its auxiliary power unit.Four hours later, her fired up the reactor, listening to its hot blue fusion loops coil and coalesce within its ultra magnetic torus shaped confinement, humming away softly as its hover jets made the whole craft seem to float like a cloud. It was a mess, but a refined one. She had treated him well, and he actually felt confident that this old girl would either see him through to the end, of allow him to die in a blaze of glory, just before he took his place among his ancestors.Some of the other freed prisoners had reported back that the crates had been loaded with food and medical supplies, which seemed like a blessing.For a jailbreak, things seemed to be going surprisingly well. But, it was always calm before the storm. The space port was still two days away at flank speed, call it three to be safe.He coordinated with the other prisoners, and set up a watch schedule, using the passive sensors on the other APCs to keep an eye on the immediate area, as well as leeching off of the satellite transmissions. The immediate area appeared to be clear.Max smiled, and allowed himself a relaxed breath. Using some scrap plastic tarps, he fashioned himself a crude hammock in what was left of the APC's troop bay, and allowed the soft hum of the reactor to lull him to sleep. He slept lightly, keeping the Maxim at the ready. Its engine would run for ten years given the nature of fusion power. A comforting thought as he drifted off....
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	"lightbox close": "Close", "lightbox next": "Next", "lightbox previous": "Previous", "lightbox error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.", "lightbox start slideshow": "Start slideshow", "lightbox stop slideshow": "Stop slideshow", "lightbox full screen": "Full screen", "lightbox thumbnails": "Thumbnails", "lightbox download": "Download", "lightbox share": "Share", "lightbox zoom": "Zoom", "lightbox new window": "New window", "lightbox toggle sidebar": "Toggle sidebar" The Wyrmberg. A small but pivotal nation caught between mighty empires. For centuries the bastion of freedom and fair trade has stood against its powerful neighbours through the use of canny alliances and political machinations, always ensuring that its continued existence is far more valuable as a strategic buffer than a conquered, rebellious fiefdom would ever be. The Royal Family of the Wyrmberg, whose original name has long passed from living memory, has stood the test of time so far, but in recent days that has changed. The old king is dead in mysterious circumstances, and his bride queen long before him. His only living heir left behind, the Princess Ravara of the Wyrmberg, has only just come of age and many do not believe her fit to take charge of the nation. With the kingdom's leadership in doubt, ambassadors from many of the major nations have descended on the Wurmberg seeking to gain favour with whomever ends up seated on the throne, or whomever stands behind it giving the orders to the puppet ruler. It was a crisp, cool Autumn day, with the threat of snow hanging in the air of the far flung provincial kingdom as the ship finally docked at the harbour. High about, the majestic floating mountain that was the Wyrmberg proper hung suspended in the air, giant chains holding it in place as the mysterious science of the dwarves lifted it above the ground. Few knew the secret of the inverted peak, although many had surmised it was no magic which made the giant rock fly.For the passengers disembarking however, the wonder of the city had waned over the last few long days of their voyage. Many of those onboard were returning once more to the city, following pilgrimages from small farming settlements and distant towns still loyal to the old rulers of the kingdom to pay their respects to their recently deceased sovereign, but some were travelling there for the first time. Even for them though the peak had become just another part of the landscape, and most were just happy to finally arrive back on dry land, even land which lived under the shadow of such a sight.Taking his time, one particular individual sat to one side of the gangplank, watching as each of his fellow travellers disembarked as his hand scribbled note into a small, leatherbound book held at his waist. For many this was the first time they had seen the stranger during the long journey as he'd seldom left his cabin on the upper decks. Now that they did, they saw a elegant individual, clearly of elvish descent although his precise race was a little uncertain. His clothes were well maintained, and immaculately cut to his body, although most of them were obscured by the heavy cloak he'd decided to wear while confronting the chill wind washing off the sea.After a few moments, the individual rose to his feet, and with a nod to a deckhand who was in the process of offloading the passengers' cargo began to make his way down onto the docks. His stride was forthright and certain, while at the same time a small bounce in his step showed him to be more graceful than somer would first guess, and as he stepped down onto the wet dockway he tuned with practiced ease to watch as his luggage was lowered down beside him.Suddenly from out of the crowd, an individual dressed as yet another dock worker stepped forwards, placing one hand on the strangers as he leant in close to whisper something in their ear before slipping back into the crowd once more. The whole exchange had taken but a moment, and at first there seemed to be nothing untowards to it, but a moment later the stranger turned, his mouth hanging open in shocked surprise as he lifted a bloodstained hand from under his cloak, lifting it up as if trying to understand what he was seeing.The crowd murmured in surprise as the stranger collapsed down onto the dock, his bloodstain hand outreached as a rapidly growing pool of his precious life fluids spread out around him.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	From the surprised crowd, a young woman rushes up to the downed stranger. She shouts to the crowd,"Is there a healer here?" as she tries to stop the bleeding with her hands and checking to see if the man was still alive or was he beyond saving. This woman would have been mistaken for a human princess, thanks to her physique being taller and curvier than what is seen in the common elven woman. However her pointy elf ears are a clear indicator of the girl's elven heritage. Following her lead, another woman, this one a green dragonborn in a very revealing red outfit, kneels beside the stranger and tries to help stop the bleeding with her hands as well. A third woman moves her way to the front of the crowd and looks at the bleeding man. Her toned and tan body is being hugged by her short tank top. But who are these three girls and what are they doing here? For that we need to roll back the clock. Each one of the three had left their respective homes for their own reasons. They were all heading to the land of Wyrmberg. The blonde haired elven woman was Kathleen Burnes, an elf on a journey to see the world. The green dragonborn was Nala Pyrixis, a dragonborn from the Pyrixis clan who, following the tradition of her people, came out into the world to make a name for herself and perhaps meet her Gold Dragon father. The third woman is Kate Cyanwolf, a mercenary who ran into trouble with the mafia in her city and had to flee the land.Perhaps it was fate that brought them together on the same boat where they met. However, now they find themselves in the scene of a murder or an attempted one. What plans does fate have for the three ladies? Well, that still remains in their hands.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Reaching up, the stranger grasped at the front of the woman's armour, his bloodstained fingers inadvertently grazing against her cleavage as he did. Pulling her down closer he rummaged beneath his cloak with his other hand before thrusting it up against her. Holding her close the stranger tried to breath out his last words, but all Kathleen could hear were a few gargled whispers as the blood bubbled inside his throat.In the distance, both Kate and Kathleen hear the sound of guards approaching, while Nala attention is drawn to a strange pendant half hidden under the neckline of the stranger's leather bodysuit.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Kate looks off in the distance and comments to herself,"Well... it's about time the cops got here." She doesn't attempt to leave she just stands there and waiting for the guards to arrive.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Kathleen is not too bothered by the guards. She keeps trying to keep the man alive. She grabs her arms around the stranger and says,"Don't try to talk. The guards are coming. They'll save you. Stay with me, sir!"
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Meanwhile Nala hesitates a bit. The pendant looks important. Why was the stranger suddenly killed? The guards are going to be here any moment. Nala just stands with mouth half open as she watches the man slowly die in Kathleen's arms. Nala wasn't the best when it came to acting in situations like these. She had little worldly experience, being somewhat sheltered by her mother growing up. Her inexperience is compounded by having to confront such a situation so shortly after getting off the ship after the long journey.She thinks about stealing the amulet just to get a better look at it. However, she decides against doing it. Instead she reaches her hand forward and fishes out the amulet from under the man's clothes. She doesn't try to take it, just get a better look and commit the details of the amulet to memory.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Quickly Nala pulls the pendant out into the open, examining it closely for a moment. Thesymbolis unmistakably that ofThe Inquisition, the peacekeeping organisation sent between the kingdoms to ensure wars are stopped before they can start, or preferably not at all. The organisation often works from the shadows, only revealing themselves when necessary, fighting threats to peace and order throughout the lands.The crowds part and four guards in shining metal armour burst through, two of them brandishing swords and shields while the two behind them have spears and shields. The one in the lead has golden adornments on her pauldrons, and her general manner suggests she is in command of the small group accompanying her.For a second she glances over the scene, and spots Nala's hand inside the stranger's clothing."Get away from there!"she shouts, before turning back towards the other guards."Take these thieves into custody, immediately!"
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Nala, startled by the assertion steps away from the man. She places her hands in the open to show that she has no intention of stealing anything. She keeps her eyes locked on the guard.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Kathleen quickly stands up. Her white armor is now stained with blood. She tries to explain, "Wait, we aren't thieves. The man suddenly fell to the ground and started bleeding. I had to go and see if he was alright."
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Kate huffs and says,"Arrest first and ask questions later type of guys aren't you?" She crosses her arms and looks quite irritated.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	While at first the lead guard seemed happy to accept Kathleen's claim, Kate's comment still riled her. "Okay, you're not under arrest, but I'm still taking you in for questioning."The guard moved around the trio, the two with spears keeping their distance, weapons ready, while the swordsman stepped in closer. "Hold out your hands, please."
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	The three share glances with each other. Then Nala slowly holds out their hands. Kathleen follows and then Kate.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Tentatively, his eyes never moving away from the suspects in front of him, the guard slipped his sword into the sheath hanging at his waist. Reaching for a small pouch clipped to his belt, the guard pulled out a small, featureless grey stone.Without giving the women a chance to respond, he moved between them, waving the stone over their hands while mumbling something under his breath that only Kathleen was quick enough to catch."Bind in light,"he murmured, in a drab monotone, as though this was a meaningless well used phrase he'd repeated a thousand times before.As he stepped away again, all the guards seemed to relax, as though now believing themselves somehow safe when a moment before they hadn't been. As the adventurers glanced down at their hands, they could see a strange glyph barely visible in the air just above the backs of each hand."Let in now be known you are in the custody of the Bergsmen,"the leader of the group began to recite, in the same drab manner as the guard had used a moment before,"Your safety will be ensured by the Bergsmen until such time as you come to face charges. You are bound to the outkeep, and may not leave without permission of the Bergmen. You are restricted from handling weapons of any kind, without permission of the Bergmen."Suddenly turning away from the docks, the guard leader strode towards a tall, crenellated structure a short distance away,"Bring them,"she barked out in her wake, her tone still sounding slightly annoyed at Kate's backtalk.Stepping up around them, one of the guards1 leant in closer to Kathleen, and in a low half whisper muttered in her ear,"Best just do as she says, luv. It's been a week and I think she's looking to butt heads with something she can handle."The guard2 on the other side of her, standing between Kathleen and Nala, let a short low warning growl escape from her throat. The first guard quickly dodged back a foot before pulling his shield up in front of himself in a professional manner, a sheepish look darting across his face at the chastisement he'd received. name of the local guard organisation 1 Spearman 1 2 Spearman 2
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Nala looks stressed. She's not sure why they're being taken in when they hadn't done anything. She just looks around at the people and then down at her feet.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Kate glares back at the captain and says passive aggressively, "Charges for what? For trying to save a man who was dying? Would you just rather we stand by and do nothing then?" Kate lowers her hands and moves them toward her hip.
The Once & Future Kingdom - DnD 5e [Closed for ZRS]	Kathleen was about to protest but the whisper of the guard1 stopped her from doing that. Instead she just nods and moves her hands around in the air, trying to figure out if the glyph restricts her movement or something else.

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