Wandering Firebender

Twenty Nine: Sacrifices

"Hey, look! That's the port right there, isn't it?" Sri pointed ahead.

The four of them looked forward. The trailed dipped down a steep hill and made a sharp left into the entrance of a cave. They could see other refugees entering inside without hesitation. Elio nodded and took a moment to briefly consult his map.

"Yeah. We're at Full Moon Bay. This must be the place." He said.

"Well quit dallying and let's get in there then!" Lao insisted with a laugh. The others all shook their heads humorously and made their way down the trail.

After a careful descent down the steep hill, Elio entered into the cave alongside Sri and her family. Right away, they saw two young women directing the refugees into a huge opening on the other side of this small entryway.

"Right this way everyone! Please enter in a calm and orderly fashion. Sir, if you could please have your family dismount the ostrich horse. We'll take it to the stable for you." One of the girls said to Elio.

"Oh! Yeah, sure." Elio nodded. Lao and Jin carefully dismounted the ostrich horse with Sri's assistance. Sri helped Elio take everything off of the saddle. Then Elio handed off the ostrich horse to one of the two directors.

"Thank you. If the four of you would step into that line right over there, the receptionist at the desk will handle your ticket purchases for the ferry." She continued to direct them, pointing them to the line that they needed to stand in.

"That one right there? Got it. Thank you very much." Elio said politely before they walked over and took their places in the back of a very long line.

The four of them looked around and were astonished by their surroundings. The cave that they had entered into had opened up wide, revealing a hidden beach-side port with several large ferries docked at the shore. They looked to be able to carry hundreds of passengers.

And yet, they didn't appear to be enough. Hundreds more refugees were congregated all across the hidden bay; they were waiting in line, camping out not far from the entry docks, and only some were now boarding onto just one of the ferries.

Elio was in stunned silence. His perspective had been greatly widened as to how many people have had their lives turned upside-down by the Fire Nation. Every single man, woman, and child here were all after the same thing he was:

Safety and solace.

"Man! Look at how many people are here!" Sri exclaimed, having a similar reaction as she looked all around them. Her parents shook their heads.

"It's gonna take us forever to get our tickets." Lao groaned.

"Don't make a fuss, honey, please." Jin said, putting a hand on his arm.

"I'm not gonna make a fuss! I just hope that they have seats for when my knees get tired."

"Don't worry, dad, I made sure to pack the folding chairs." Sri brought up.

"Oh! See, we raised you right after all. So glad we took you along, sweetheart." Lao teased his daughter, wrapping an arm around her. She laughed and leaned against him...

As Lao suspected, they did have to wait in line for a long time. With how many people there were ahead of them, even though the front of the line was moving at a normal pace, it felt like full minutes would pass before Elio and the others would get to step forward.

An hour passed. Then two.

"Oh boy. No one told me that this would be so rough to wait through." Elio sighed.

"Honestly. This is terrible." Lao said, shaking his head and readjusting how he was sitting in his seat.

"Well, if it were easy, the whole Earth Kingdom would be living in Ba Sing Se." Jin commented, wiping her brow.