The White Assassin

Ch. 9 - Home

It was the next morning. I had fallen asleep in a tent back at the campsite. I heard the birds chirping and the sun leaked into the tent. I tried to get up but a force held me down, when I looked I saw that Aang was hugging me. 'What?!' I shrieked in my head. I felt my face grow hot and I felt embarrassed. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp but he had a firm grip. I found a sleeping bag and carefully I pulled his hand off of my torso. When I moved, I stuck the bag in the place where I was before. When I did, Aang moved back into cuddling the bag thinking it was me. I sighed a breath of relief and made my way outside of the tent. I stepped out and saw the sun shining on the grounds. There was smoke coming off from the wood where our campfire was. I went to the supply tent and rummaged through it looking for my bow and arrow. Once I found it I made my way deep into the forest, making sure to remember my path.

I was about a half mile away from the campsite. I jumped up into a tree and stayed quiet, looking for wildlife. I saw a couple bunnies and some birds but that wouldn't feed all five of us. However, when a deer stumbled along I knew I had hit the jackpot. It stopped to graze the grace under it. I placed an arrow on the string of my bow and pulled back. I took my aim towards its head and wanted the shot to be powerful so the deer would die quickly. Just because I'm a killer, doesn't mean that I want animals to suffer. What have they done? Nothing I presume. I used my air bending to strengthen the breeze of the wind so it would carry my arrow faster. I steadied my aim and let the arrow loose. The needle pierced the deer right where it was intended and I jumped down from the tree. I grabbed it and brought it back with me to the campsite.

I found a sharp rock and began to cut the dear into portion sizes. As I did, the group began to wake up. First Toph, then Katara, next Aang and lastly Sokka. Toph and Katara helped me with the deer and we all ate our breakfast. When we finished, we threw away the bones and decided to use the rest of the deer for dinner. "So now what?" Sokka asked. I looked over to him to see that he was sharpening his weapon. It was a long stick with an arrow head tied to the end of it.

"We are going to be training!" I said excitedly. Aang and Toph were all over the idea but the siblings groaned. "What's the issue?" I asked.

"We've already gone through training. I say we kick back and relax." Sokka said. As he did, he leaned backwards on a tree. I became agitated and blew the wind to his left so he fell to his right. I chuckled as did the others but Sokka stood up with a pout. "That's not fair!" He exclaimed.

"Do you want to be able to go back to your water tribe in peace?" I asked him. He looked at me in shock and then an expression of regret was found on his face. "You're not going to be able to do that if we don't take down the source of the problem. The only way to do that is to practice and train for the future." I told him. He looked down at the ground and sighed.

"You're right." He said. He walked over to me and looked at me. His eyes showed sadness and desperation. I couldn't help but feel bad for him, his father left to go to war and his mother died early on. It must've been hard for him, I can understand.

"Hey," I said. I put my hand on his shoulder and I smiled. "It'll be alright." He smiled back at me and I let go of him.

"Alright, first thing's first. We'll need a clear space for our training." Toph said. I nodded and began to look around for a small clearing. We eventually found one not far from the camp grounds and it was right next to a lake, perfect for practicing with water bending. "How should we start?" She asked.

"What about a little bit of a one on one action?" I asked. They all nodded in agreement. "Who wants to go up against me for round 1?" I asked.

"I will." Katara said. She walked forward and I smiled at her. "How about we battle with our strongest bending?"

"I agree." We both took our spots on different sides of the clearing. She was closer to the lake because I wanted her to have somewhat of an advantage.

"Katara vs. Hale." Toph exclaimed. "First person to fall to their knees is out, are you two ready?" She asked us. We both looked at eachother and nodded our heads. "Begin!" And the duel was on.

Katara got into a stance and stared at me with a strong gaze. I stood standing straight up with my arms crossed over my chest looking unamused. "You going to make a move or what?" I said. My goal was to antagonize her and tease her until she broke. She gave a scrunch of her nose and ran towards me. She tried to use hand-to-hand combat towards me but I dodged every one of her attacks. The last punch she threw I used the wind to block it and she stopped in her tracks.

"What?" She questioned. Her face showed shock and I chuckled.

"Rule number 1." I say. "Never rush into battle without having a plan of action first." I released her fist and she tumbled backwards. "Rule number 2." I get into a stance and start to bend. "Never let your opponent get the best of you with their words." I shot up a column of dirt and I kicked it towards her. She jumped out of the way and went back into a stance. She began to bend the water from the lake that was behind her. She sent it straight towards me and I jumped out of the way. "Not bad." I said. "Your technique needs work but your power is incredibly strong." She started to get embarrassed from the praise and let her guard down. I used that time to go into the ground and make a tunnel so I was behind her. I shot up out of the ground a few meters behind her and pushed air towards her. She fell on the ground and groaned. "Rule number 3." I walked towards her and stood in front of her. "Don't let flattery weaken your defenses. And lastly," I crouched down to her level and picked up her chin so she was looking at me. "Never take your eyes off your opponent." I let her go and stood back up. I reached out my hand to help her and she took it. "You did well for your first time, however, you'll need to learn a lot more to beat a fire lord like Ozai." She nodded her head towards me and I nodded back.

While we were fighting Sokka practiced his warrior skills against a tree. Strengthening his hits and his acceleration. Aang and Toph began to duel and they were both exhausted afterwards. "Let's take a break." Toph said. Everyone agreed and we headed back to the campsite. We cooked the rest of the deer for lunch and began to pack up for our travels. We all had back packs on and I was the only one with a lighter back then the others. If anything were to happen, I was the strongest out of the group. I was in the front with Toph, Aang was behind us and behind him was the southern water tribe siblings. We started walking through the forest heading towards the earth kingdom.

The sun was setting in front of us. In front of the light was the outline of my old home, of my old life; the earth kingdom. It was standing right there, mocking me but also welcoming me home. We continued to walk down the pathway and walked right into a town. "Where do we go from here?" Katara asked.

"The temple." I say back to her. "I have some people I need to visit." We continued to walk down the cobblestone lined road and all eyes were on us. What else would you expect? A bald kid with blue arrows, a short girl with faded eyes, two water tribe siblings and an air bender with purple hair; nothing abnormal about this group. I blocked out their stares as best as I could but on my walk I saw multiple people that I knew prior. My old childhood friends and classmates that I would play with back when I was younger. It saddened me to know that they grew up in a place like this, with no knowledge of the beauty of the outside world. I was the only person to really test myself and see what I was capable of. No one else would push themselves as hard as I would, even in training and school work I worked my hardest. It doesn't matter now, what does matter is that I get these guys to the temple and quickly.

We reached the front of the gates and saw to soldiers standing there. "Halt!" One exclaimed. He lifted his hand so it was eye level with me, since I was in the front, and stared me down. "What business do you have with the earth kingdom temple?" He asked me. I sighed and looked at the soldier dead in the eye.

"I'm here to visit some old acquaintances. Now if you could please let us by that wo-" He cut me off before I could continue.

"No one has been allowed to visit the king and queen ever since their daughter ran away. They've been dealing with grief ever since, so I suggest you leave!" The solder demanded. I widened my eyes and felt a sad feeling grow in the pit of my stomach. 'My parents.. Are sad because of me?' I thought.

"Hey you!" Sokka said behind me. I turned around to look at him and the soldier raised an eyebrow. "What if I told you that I know where the princess is?" I felt a bit of shock at Sokka's statement but deep down he was right. I had to come home sooner or later to deal with my problems, it just so happens that I'm doing it with more people then expected.

"Fine." The soldier said coldly. He opened the gates as did his partner on the other side. We walked up the path towards the temple and reached the front doors. 'Here goes nothing.' I thought. I knock on the door and a faint 'come in' was heard. I opened the door and they made a creaking sound. They fully slammed open and there sitting on two thrones was a male and a female. Both were slightly older and had royal clothes on. They were sitting on their chairs looking morbid and extremely sad. 'I did this to them?'

They lifted their heads towards our direction and they both stood up. Slowly they made their way towards us and their eyes got bigger and bigger as they got closer. "It can't be.." My father said. Their eyes locked on mine and I felt a feeling of happiness well up inside of me. I started to smile and my mother covered her mouth with her hands. She was so shocked and began to cry. "Hale.." My father muttered. I nodded at them and they ran towards me. Their arms wrapped around me and I felt a warmth that I was missing for a while. I smiled and hugged them back not intending to let go.