Wandering Firebender

Twenty: The Night Calls For Blood

Looking all around them, this forest that Elio and Cindra were walking through had much more natural beauty to it than the swamp did. There was nothing unsettling about these thick trees with their colorful leaves hanging high above them.

"This place is really beautiful. Don't you think so, Elio?" Cindra asked, looking around with a pleasant smile on her face.

"The leaves are really pretty," Elio said, nodding in agreement. "Definitely better than the swamp." He added.

"Oh yeah! Definitely!" Cindra giggled.

"I will admit," He said. "These are the parts of the Earth Kingdom that I do actually love. You don't see natural beauty like this anywhere else in the world."

"That is very true. Even despite all the trouble it's given us, when I go home I'm going to tell everyone about the places like this that we saw." She decided, giggling lightly to herself.

"Heheh, you must be looking forward to going home." He said with a chuckle.

"O-Oh, I wasn't trying to..." Cindra stuttered, her tone quickly turning apologetic. However, Elio simply managed a kind smile towards her.

"It's okay. I'm happy for you. You have every reason to look forward to being back home. Say hi to your folks for me when you get there." He joked lightly. Cindra laughed.

"You know what? I probably will! I can't even imagine what they'll say when I tell them I became best friends with a firebender."

"Just try not to make me look bad." He joked.

Elio and Cindra paused, the conversation coming to a halt. They looked ahead of them and saw the remains of an abandoned city just down the hill. It seemed that something had leveled the town, knocking down structures and breaking down the walls around it.

"Oh wow... What happened there?" Cindra wondered aloud as they made their way down towards it. Elio pulled out his map and looked at it.

"It's hard to say. Doesn't look like a Fire Nation siege. No signs of fire... This town's on the map. Look, see here? We're right here moving upwards." Elio pointed out their location on the map.

"You're right... But if the Fire Nation didn't destroy this town, what did?" She wondered aloud.

"I don't know. But let's take a look around. Maybe we can find some supplies in the wreckage?" He suggested.

Elio and Cindra made their way through the crumbled remains of the town, stepping on broken pieces of walls to peek inside of the structures that were still standing. It appeared that the entire town had been wiped clean of any resources that could help them.

"People have been through this area before. Anything that we might've been able to use; it's long gone." Elio said to Cindra.

"Elio... Your friend is back!" Cindra realized, pointing towards Cassian's squad coming towards the town on their komodo rhinos. Elio's eyes widened and he pulled out his staff.

"Get ready! We'll use the buildings as cover!" Elio said to her. Cindra opened her water pouch and bent the water out. They both were ready to fight.

However, before Cassian and his squad could enter into the vicinity of the ruined town, a flurry of arrows suddenly came flying at them from the side. Their armor protected them, however, their animals were frightened by the sudden attack.

Elio and Cindra watched as a group came rushing out of the trees with weapons. As the firebenders twisted their bodies awkwardly to shoot fireballs at them, they all sidestepped the attacks and began climbing on top of the komodo rhinos to take the men down.