Wandering Firebender

Fourty Four: Roots

Elio and Iroh finally set foot on land; they were back in the Earth Kingdom once again. Elio looked across the open water, back towards the Fire Nation. He couldn't see it anymore, but he was still picturing the shape of it on the horizon.

"Come, Elio. We have another journey ahead of us." Iroh urged him. Shaken out of his thoughts, he pulled his things out of the boat and strapped them over his shoulders. He then fell in step next to Iroh as they made their way up the beach.

"Who are these 'friends of yours' that we're going to see?" Elio asked curiously.

"A special group of wise, remarkable men." He answered.

"Alright..." Elio said, still a bit hesitant. The journey continued on in silence for a while before Iroh spoke up again.

"What's troubling you, Elio?" He asked, noticing Elio's body language and contemplative silence. Elio glanced at him then back down.

"I...It was hard, seeing my family again that way. I really miss them." He expressed. Iroh nodded in understanding.

"When you try to do the right thing and you still hurt the people you love most, it can be painful. However, I have to ask, do you feel that you made the wrong decision, leaving the way you did?" Iroh asked curiously. Elio sighed and shook his head.

"No...no I don't. Even with all of the pain it's brought me, I can't imagine myself fighting for the Fire Nation. I definitely don't want to think about serving a life sentence...I can't help but think about Cindra and the Northern Water Tribe."

"I am not surprised that my brother wants to try attacking them again. When I failed to conquer Ba Sing Se in the past, it was considered a great humiliation to our nation. Ozai likely sees the North Pole as his 'Ba Sing Se' and wants to erase that mistake." Iroh reasoned.

"But we're gonna do something about it...right?" Elio asked hopefully. Iroh did not give him a direct answer.

"We will discuss that when we reach my friends." He decided.

It took almost two days of traveling on foot before Elio finally got to see the 'remarkable men' that Iroh was talking about. Elio and Iroh stepped to the top of a hill. Now he was able to see exactly where they were.

"Are those...that's Ba Sing Se over there, isn't it?" Elio asked, pointing across the landscape far ahead of them to the tall outer walls of the Earth Kingdom capitol.

"Yes, but that isn't where we're going." Iroh said, continuing down the other side of the hill. Elio looked down as he followed behind him and saw an organized set of pitched tents.

"This is it." Elio figured.

"Yes. Just stay close to me and I will explain everything." Iroh promised.

Elio and Iroh finally made their way down and walked into the camp. As they walked through, several men peeked their heads out from their tents. Elio quickly realized that the camp was full of older men all wearing blue and white robes.

They all seemed to hold some sort of respectable status. He wouldn't know though; he didn't recognize anyone here.

"Well well well! Look who finally decided to join us! Welcome back, great Dragon of the West!" An old man cackled as he came up to Iroh and greeted him by clapping his hands on Iroh's arms.

"Haha, hello Bumi. It's good to see you again." Iroh said with a smile.

"And you too! Ah, and this must be Zuko, your little nephew you told me so much about!" Bumi said, going to Elio and patting a hand on his shoulder, "Where's your scar at?" Bumi asked, leaning forward. Elio leaned backwards and stumbled a little.