The Avatar's Guardian: The Lost Story (Avatar the Last Airbender fanfic)

Chapter Eighteen

Satomi's P.O.V.
I wait until early morning before gliding down from the tree. I light a small ball of fire between my hands to keep warm and remove the night chill from my bones. It doesn't feel odd to create it anymore. Jeong Jeong's training helped and it doesn't feel like I may accidentally hurt anyone any more. I am still going to be very careful with it and use it sparingly, but it doesn't feel harmful any longer. I brush the thought aside. Focus!

I need to find Aang today. I begin to walk around the swamp in whatever direction feels right at the time. I wander about until I hear the clash of swords. I create a flame over my hand instinctively. I see two people fighting with swords ahead of me. The metallic clang echoes around the swamp. One fights with dual single edged swords which are thick and curve wickedly. The other smaller one fights with longer single edged swords that aren't as thick as the first fighter's. They look more like the pirates that we fought a while back's swords. They are more straight than the first but they do have a slight curve on the end of them. It's the kind of swords that I would fight with. The second fighter is definitely a girl, probably a younger teenager. The first fighter has much broader shoulders and moves differently almost like a fire bender would. He is a teenage boy that is older than the girl. Their images seem hazy because I can't make out any of their features. The boy has thick messy black hair and pale skin. The girl is even paler than the boy and much thinner. She has solid white hair a bit longer than mine. Hers hangs down to the small of her back mine alone reaches the back of my shoulders now. Who are these two and why are they sparring in the swamp? I watch their fighting styles and both are extremely advanced swordsmen. What are they doing here?

"Who are you?" I ask them, but I get no reply as the battle moves further away. "Hey wait!" I call out to them dashing forward through the swamp and extinguishing the fire above my palm. I try to catch up to them, but they are too fast for my injured ribs to keep up with. I pant as I race after them. After about an hour of chasing after the pair they disappear and I find Team Avatar around the bend they had just rounded. Team Avatar goes at it discussing what they had just seen. I don't say anything as the back of my neck prickles. I snap glider open and take off into the trees. I am still not much use in a fight and if the others are captured it would be in my best interest to not be so I could at least follow them. I squat down on a high perch completely forgotten by the others for the time being.

I watch as a swamp creature suddenly pulls out of the depths of the water. It is made entirely of vines and its face is a dried piece of bark with a face etched into it with a knife. Interesting creature. I watch silently as Aang and Katara fend it off while it tries to carry Sokka off with it. Curious. Intelligent creature made of plants? No, it is a man using waterbending to make the creature. It takes Katara and Aang about half an hour longer to figure this out through luck. I sigh. These two are going to need all the help they can get. We need another member on this team to help them think differently. They need to learn to think out of the box. I pinch the bridge of my nose. I guess that would be my job. I glide down and land solidly behind Aang without a sound as the water bender annonces his name as Huu. Strange man, like Bumi. I've never seen a water bender manipulate plants through the water in them before.

"Who are you?" he asks immediately upon my arrival. I incline my head in response to ease the tension.

"I am the avatar's guardian," I reply smoothly the edge of my lips curled into a small smile. He nods with a smile on his face.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am sorry that I attacked your friend, but he was harming the swamp. It is my job to protect it," Huu explains. I smile at him.

"It is an honorable job at that. You will have to excuse my friend. He can be rash sometimes. I am sure he meant no harm. He can be very presumptuous sometimes and doesn't think before swinging his weapon in what he only thinks is defense. I do apologize for the harm he has done to the swamp," I say bowing before Huu. He smiles widely.