21 Chapter 21

Upon returning to Aang and Katara, I found the great hunter of sustenance, Sokka, who had brought us... imagine this! Nuts!

"Wow, Sokka, I'm impressed with you! Unable to find food in a huge forest! Maybe I should have bought not only spices and seasonings in Omashu but also meat - since you wouldn't likely be able to catch it even if you were starving. We'll be surviving on nuts alone. Oh, Sokka..." I began, planning a long speech, but was interrupted by a sudden noise.

BOOM!

Our whole group froze and turned towards the source of the sound, somewhere behind the trees.

"Did you hear that?" Aang, emerging from his meditation, asked.

"It's an earthbender," I responded, immediately recognizing the nature of the sound, which repeated itself. "For some reason, he's throwing and hitting boulders about the size of a person against the ground. Possibly a novice, or just training. It's unlikely to be an experienced earthbender, as they don't need such training."

"Let's go take a look!" Aang said, rushing in that direction.

"Wouldn't it be better not to mess with him?" Sokka asked.

However, everyone had already run towards the sound. Looking at Sokka, I smirked and also dashed off, noticing that he was running after me.

When I reached the dry riverbed, I only saw a young man running away, covering the riverbed behind him with stones.

I don't know if it was excitement, but I ran forward, leaping over Aang and Katara who had stopped, and upon landing, I spread my arms and the earth exploded, the soil and rocks scattering in opposite directions, clearing the path and running after the earthbender, whom I could sense through his blood. I felt that the others were running after me, but only Aang, who seemed to be flying on his glider judging by his smooth movement, could keep up with my speed.

The chase didn't last very long and ended near a village where the earthbender stopped and entered somewhat calmly on foot.

I stopped among the trees, looking at the village. Understanding the situation dawned on me. The guy was practicing earthbending outside the village, trying not to arouse any suspicion, and ran as soon as he realized he was spotted...

It involuntarily reminded me of my own childhood...

Aang landed nearby, and soon the others caught up.

"We can buy food here!" Aang exclaimed and headed into the village, followed by Katara after a second's delay, and then Sokka, who stopped and looked at me.

"Freo, are you alright?" he asked.

"Go ahead, Sokka, I'm fine."

After looking at me for another second, Sokka turned and followed the others. I also made my way into the village.

Soon we reached the market, where I sensed the same earthbender. Having felt his blood once, I could now easily distinguish it among the vast variety of blood from all the people here. The sense of blood came from one of the houses.

Approaching the house, I opened the door and entered, immediately seeing the young earthbender and a woman he was talking to.

Seeing me, his eyes widened.

"Don't worry, kid, I won't tell anyone. And I'll try to make sure the guys who spotted you won't tell either," I immediately said, calming the boy.

"What is he talking about, Haru?" the woman asked the boy.

"I don't know, mom, he probably made something up and now believes it himself. I met them while I was walking in the forest and then came here, and they made up their own story!"

At that moment, the rest of the group entered the small shop, prompting me to immediately address them.

"Guys, not a word about what you saw to anyone. Got it?" I asked.

"Um, yes, but why?" Aang asked, blinking frequently.

"It doesn't matter. I'll tell you later. Haru, that's your name, right? Sorry to disturb you, we'll be leaving now. Take care."

I turned to leave the shop, not wanting to stress Haru further, but there was a knock at the door.

Sokka immediately rushed to the window and peeked through the blinds to see who had come.

"It's the Fire Nation soldiers!" he announced, causing everyone to become slightly more agitated.

Haru's mother approached the door and opened it.

"What do you want? I've already paid the taxes!" she said sternly.

"The taxes have doubled," said the entering firebender. He was a plump man with long mustaches, dressed in the full attire of the Fire Nation soldiers but without a helmet. "You wouldn't want a fire, would you? You know, controlling fire can be so difficult..."

As he spoke, flames ignited between his hands, but he extinguished them by the end of his threat.

"No. Of course not. Right away."

Haru's mother went behind the counter, took out a box, opened it, and handed over all the money to the firebender, keeping only the copper coins for herself.

"You can keep the coppers," she said as the firebender quickly left the shop, and she began picking up the coppers he had discarded on the floor.

"What a friendly guy! And how long have the Fire Nation soldiers been here?" Sokka asked.

Meanwhile, I wasn't listening and had followed the firebender out of the shop.

I wasn't going to let such a bastard live! So, I needed to find out where he was staying...

After trailing the soldiers at a distance, I figured out where they were staying and where this specific firebender was living. Then, I returned to the shop to find Sokka waiting for me.

"Freo, where did you disappear to? They agreed to let us stay the night, Aang went to get Appa, and Katara went to see where we'd be sleeping, and you just vanished."

"I had to take care of something important, Sokka."

"What could possibly be so urgent here, it's our first time in this place?"

"It's important, Sokka. Very important, at least to me."

We waited about twenty minutes for Aang and Katara. Katara returned first, and a few minutes later, Aang arrived. He explained that he went to notify Appa that he'd call him soon and that he has a special whistle for that. The whistle emits frequencies either too high or too low for human ears, but Appa can hear it from a great distance. Together, we headed to a small house with a barn on the outskirts of the village.

As we approached, Haru came out to meet us.

"My mom said you could stay the night, but she said you have to leave in the morning."

"We understand," I spoke up, being the eldest. "We'll leave in the morning and continue our journey."

Haru went back into the barn, followed soon by Katara. Aang started meditating with a cup of water, while Sokka lay down on the hay to sleep.

I sat down and began meditating next to Aang, focusing not on water, but on air.

A few hours later, I sensed Aang stop his meditation and go somewhere, later felt Katara and Haru returning, then Aang came back, and eventually, everyone went to sleep, and I was left undisturbed.

I woke up early in the morning while it was still dark and cool outside, but I didn't pay much attention to it, starting my morning training. I hadn't practiced for a couple of weeks, and I needed to fix that! Bloodbending allows, of course, to keep the body from losing form, more precisely slows down this process significantly, but it's not a cure-all!

When the sun had risen, I finished and went to a water pump, from which I drew some water with waterbending and washed myself completely.

Against the backdrop of dawn, I noticed Haru's mother. She was standing and looking into the horizon. Approaching her, I touched her shoulder.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

She turned to me, and I saw tears in her eyes.

"Haru... they took him..."

***

Friends, the next chapter will be very long and there will be a lot of cruel scenes, I warned you

Enjoy reading, and don't forget: for every 200 Power Stones you donate, I'll post an additional chapter.