Still Breathing

Chapter 26. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Bold is English

"I've finally decided my future lies beyond the yellow brick road." ~ Elton John

Erica, Kiri, and Tuk were all out in the forested area that surrounded the Metkayina village as they begun to feel slightly home sick. Norm and Max had come to bring Mo'at home after she'd stayed with the Sully's for the last two weeks and Tuk had really been missing her and her old home. So Erica and Kiri decided to have a sister outing and take their baby sister out on an adventure. Lo'ak was invited to come along, but he and Tsireya had the day planned together so they decided to turn it into a sisters only trip

The three of them had been outside for awhile and were quite aways away from the village despite their father telling them not to wander too far. Tuk was laughing as she played with the plants in front of her while Kiri was basking in the feeling of the grass on her feet. Erica was just happy that her siblings were happy and was enjoying their smiles. 

The sounds of something in the tree's alerted Erica as she looked up to the sky, a shadow flying past her so quickly that she didn't get a chance to see what it was. Thinking that it might've just been a bird or something, Erica ignored it and went back to watching her siblings despite everything in her gut telling her something was wrong.

The sounds of wings flapping in the distance grew louder and louder as Erica's ears moved with the direction of the sound. As she turned her head, she noticed an Ikran sitting on a branch over looking them out of the corner over her eyes.

"Kiri." She whispered to her sister, not moving seeing as she didn't want to draw too much to herself. Her sister looked over her shoulder at Erica with questioning eyes once she noticed the concern that was painted on her face.

"Without making it obvious, I want you to look at the Ikran that's sitting on the branch up there." Erica spoke lowly, ever so slightly nodding her head in the direction of the creature.

Kiri followed her sister's instructions, spotting the Ikran out of the corner of her eye as she kept her head straight in front of her. 

"Do you see it?" Erica asked to which Kiri nodded, a smile planted on her face as she looked at Tuk to make it seem as though she hadn't noticed. "Is that by any chance any of your Ikran's?" Kiri shook her head, still smiling as she looked at her little sister.

Erica felt her heart drop to her stomach. Wild Ikran's don't just live near a Metkayina village, and if it wasn't any of her siblings, it had to belong to an Avatar. More importantly, it had to belong to one of Quaritch's Avatar's.

She walked over towards where her sisters were sitting, turning her back to the Ikran so whoever was watching them couldn't see her face. Erica placed her hands on both of her sister's shoulders, gaining both of their attention.

"Listen, I need you both to get back to the Village, tell dad where I am. I'm going to try to draw it away further from the Village. When I say run, you run. Got it?" Both girls nodded as they stood to their feet, holding hands as they walked away from Erica.

Erica begun counting, pretending that they were in a game of hide and seek so that way her sisters could hide without it seeming obvious that they knew they were being watched. Erica was still sitting on the ground as she reached forward, grabbing a rock in her hand and holding it tight as she took in deep breaths, preparing herself to face whoever was on the Ikran.

"7." Erica stood up from the ground, holding the rock even tighter in her hand now.

"8." She spun around to face the Ikran, still not looking at it fully as she swallowed harshly, trying not to let her voice waver.