Wandering Firebender

Twenty One: Agni Kai

It was a rough night for both Elio and Cindra. After last night's dangerous, emotionally turbulent events, they were both forced to sleep heavily on the ground downstream from where they were.

When Elio woke up and washed his face in the river, he found that Cindra was already awake and sitting alone with her feet in the water. She waved him over. He brushed his hair back and walked over to sit with her.

"Hey, Cindra. What're you doing up already?" He asked.

"I had a tough time sleeping last night. I woke up a while ago and couldn't go back to sleep... I've been thinking."

"About last night? And what happened with the moon?" Elio asked. Cindra nodded.

"Yeah... Tui told me to watch for a sign. You saw it too, Elio. The moon turned red. And it was gone! It just disappeared! And when it disappeared, I couldn't bend; that has to be what he was talking about." She said.

"Yeah. Honestly, what else could it be? That was crazy." He agreed. He was still hesitant to regard the spirit world as real, but even he couldn't deny what he had seen.

"Yeah. I think that it's time for me to start heading home, Elio. I'll need to start making my way north." She said. Elio nodded and sighed.

"Yeah, you're probably right... Well, we'll eat our breakfast and start heading up." He said.

"No," Cindra looked at him. "You should continue going up toward Ba Sing Se. You still have Cassian and his men after you." She pointed out.

"I'm not letting you go alone, Cindra," Elio said. "Ba Sing Se will still be waiting for me when you're gone. Besides, you need the map to know where you're going." He pointed out. Cindra looked down and smiled sadly.

"Yeah, that's true... Yeah, you're right. I just didn't want to endanger you unnecessarily. You've already gone through so much." She said.

"You're gonna be in danger now too. So until you're on a boat sailing to the North Pole, I'm gonna stick by you just like you've stuck by me." He decided. She smiled at him.

"Thanks, Elio."

"No need to get sappy on me," He said with a chuckle, tapping her on the arm with his fist before getting up. "I'll grab us some food so we can get going."

So Elio and Cindra ate their breakfast and immediately began their trek to the northernmost part of the Earth Kingdom. After using their map to determine the most direct route to the north beach, they crossed over the river and walked through the trees.

It wasn't long before the two of them reached a town. However, unfortunately for them, it was controlled by the Fire Nation. The two of them warily looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Should we just keep moving?" Cindra asked. Elio looked at the map again.

"We shouldn't stop, but we have to pass through to the other side of this town to keep on the path." He answered. Cindra swallowed nervously.

"Okay... Well, hoods on. We'll just try to be inconspicuous."

Elio and Cindra put on their hoods, sticking close to each other as they made their way through town. It was a quiet afternoon in town, but they could see Fire Nation soldiers randomly posted around town, or just casually walking up and down the streets.

"This place is crawling with soldiers." Cindra said quietly to Elio.

"Yeah," He nervously agreed, his eyes scanning around cautiously. "Just keep your head down. We're almost there." He said.