Book One: Rain

Chapter Two - Departure Day

Naga Academy, May 13, 302 AG

   Kenny had stood in a single stiff position for minutes waiting for his name to be called. Nearly everyone in his class was standing in a straight line, elbow to elbow facing the instructors. "Pasana Yuri, Owen Pivmoth, and John Lou please step forward and behind the flag titled 1." And so this process reiterated itself, over, and over, and over again.

   No one dared to speak of the Evine and the earth bender's dispute, knowing well if they did what came next would not be pretty. People sure did ponder, and ponder again. All their mouths resembled zip lock bags, a closed package of filtered air. Although, Kenny couldn't keep his opinions in. A mouth full of explosives, his parents always said. Censorship was never a forte of his and neither was silence, in all truth.

   "Group fifty: Lana Inara, Sakura Lee, and Christine Lang please line up adjacent to the fiftieth flag", Kenny had stood there for nearly an hour now. His mind now wondered off to distant lands, jumping from land to land and disregarding borders, free of restraint. 

   He stood there and thought for a while, questioning a variety of things. Panic struck him quickly and a small dose of fear as well, retaliating his own decisions. 'Why am I here? What in my small, small mind made me think this was a good idea?" He took a deep breath, "Nerves are temporary, Kenny." he recalled his mother telling him, "Never let them dictate you because once you get out there you'll find that you have nothing to worry about." He breathed in, and out. 

   "Group fifty-five: Kenneth Jusans, Marzie Pamp, and Nira Ralimp please step behind the fifty-fifth flag." In that moment, it all felt surreal to him. A quick rush of adrenaline pulsed inside him, circulating in his stomach and in his veins. His heart dropped a little and he stepped forward. It wasn't him controlling his feet but rather some adamant force, much stronger than him. 

   Kenny wondered if the others felt how he felt, scared and alone. The instructor looked at his paper meticulously, "My apologies, Nira get back in line. You right there," He pointed to a boy in the crowd, "Line up over here." He looked behind him to his teammates. Kenny's expectations were to be teamed with strong and kind people, become close friends with them and complete this journey together happily. He was not yet prepared for what he saw, it was the earth bender and the water bender from the other day. Scared and alone was an understatement.

   Kenny took many large deep breaths in and out until finally, it was time for the group exercise. "Groups one through sixty-three, stand behind your flag. Each group takes five minutes to meet your groupmates and discuss a strategy for the following game:" The instructor had a deck of cards and took one from the top. He read aloud, "This year we will be playing Capture the Flag! Okay, each group has ten minutes to spread out around the campus and declare an area for their flag. The last group with a flag wins. The winners get air transport from here to Dajin Port. Good luck."

   Evine immediately began to run towards the school, while Marzie and Kenny stood there staring at him. "What the hell are you doing? Come on, I don't plan on walking an extra five miles on top of the cross country expedition we are already walking." Kenny sighed and followed him. Rolling his eyes, Evine spat out, "Snails could run faster than you." 

   "The roof, we have high ground and Marzie and blockade the flag." Kenny said being followed by Evine snarking "Just what I was thinking."

   Marzie catapulted herself up onto the roof, while Evine and Kenny carried the flag upstairs, "You couldn't have boosted yourself up with that fire of yours, it would've helped a lot more than running up six flights of stairs." Kenny said nothing, did nothing. He didn't want to and refused to be angered by this guy. "No response? You're gonna be quite the muted help won't you?" Kenny sighed.