Wandering Firebender

Twenty Seven: Trust & Circumstance

The sun was shining brightly over the Earth Kingdom today. Elio had the hood of his cloak pulled over his head to shield his eyes from the light. He held onto the reins of his ostrich horse, but after a few days now of following the path, he no longer had to worry about keeping his animal on the right track.

"If my map is right, La, soon we'll be approaching the Serpent's Pass," Elio spoke aloud while looking over his map. "If what Anisa said was right, hopefully we should run into some travelers soon that can lead me to port."

His ostrich horse screeched suddenly and came to a stop. Elio pulled on the reins in surprise as he realized that he had almost barreled through a family of three walking down the trail. Everyone yelped and jumped back in surprise as Elio took control of his steed again.

"Sorry about that! My fault! I wasn't paying attention." He said apologetically, quickly trying to excuse himself.

"You oughta watch where you're going with that thing, kid. That could've been real bad!" The father shouted.

"I know, that's on me. I apologize." He said sincerely.

"You're alright, but honestly, be glad that nothing happened." The father said in response.

Elio's eyes scanned over the family: a father, a mother, and a daughter. It took him a moment to realize it, but he had met this family before.

"Hey, wait... It's you three! I remember you!" He said, removing his hood so that they could see his face clearly.

"Elio!" The daughter exclaimed right away. Elio smiled and dismounted his ostrich horse.

"Hey, Sri! It's good to see you again! How are you?" He asked.

"Not too bad. How about yourself? You look well." She observed.

"Wait a second... You're the kid we asked to help when Sri got stuck in the desert! Well, I'll be!" The father, whose name was Lao, laughed.

"Yes, that was me," Elio chuckled. "It's good to see you all again. How have you been?"

"We've been alright," The mother answered. She stretched her hand out to him. "We weren't properly introduced before. My name is Jin."

"Nice to meet you," He said politely, shaking her hand. "Are you three on your way to Ba Sing Se now as well?" He asked.

"Spot on, kid! We scrounged enough money together to finally make the journey, so it's time to move on up!" Lao said with a laugh.

"I thought you were already on your way to Ba Sing Se," Sri brought up. "Shouldn't you have gotten there already?" She asked.

"Yeah, but we had to stray off course for awhile." Elio answered.

"Who's the 'we'? Oh! You mean you and your lady friend?" Lao asked. Elio nodded.

"Yeah... She had to go back home. So we changed course and went up north. Now that she's on her way, I turned back. I just got back on the right track not too long ago actually." He explained.

"Oh, I see... Hey, you should travel with us!" Sri offered.

"That's not a bad idea. We're all going to the same place, after all." Jin agreed.

"Haha, I was actually going to ask if that was alright. I don't know where to find the port where the ferries are. Do you know where it is?" Elio asked curiously.

"We sure do! So it's settled then! You're joining our expedition to the big city!" Lao said with a laugh.

So Elio joined up with Sri's family for the journey to Ba Sing Se. They redistributed their belongings so that Jin and Lao could ride on the ostrich horse while Elio and Sri carried whatever the ostrich horse couldn't manage. Elio held onto the reins and led his steed; Sri walked next to him.