Lines Crossed

Four people could be seen sitting inside an opulent room, the room exudes an air of imperial grandeur, with a deep appreciation for tradition. The color scheme includes deep reds, luxurious golds, and various shades of rich brown and green; many carpets with intricate patterns and vibrant colors cover the floor, adding not only to the opulence of the room but also providing comfort and insulation.

From one of the many windows, fluffy clouds could be seen quite closely, adding an air of otherworldliness that could be felt by everyone inside.

"We will probably reach the resort by tomorrow," Said Nari as she kept drinking her tea with a content expression on her face.

"Can't wait for it! I've been curious about the outside world for so long!" Exclaimed Xi, the hyperactive twenty-year-old Sun Warrior girl.

"Eh… it's okay I guess…" Shrugged Kaliya while drinking her Sake.

"How can you be so nonchalant about it? Weren't you like… trapped in your tribe as well?" Asked Xi with a tone of indignation.

Kaliya on the other hand just shrugged "For the first year or so, I was right like ye… but… once you see one city you've seen all of 'em..."

Xi's eyebrow twitched viciously, but Kaliya wasn't done.

"To make it even worse… the Resort is superior to any other place you will ever see, once ye in there… other places just feel… meh…" The girl with the eyepatch concluded by chugging sake like there's no tomorrow.

While Xi was getting more and more triggered, both Nari and Madara chuckled.

"Well, I won't disagree that the resort is superior to anywhere else, I've built that place!" said Madara with a cheerful tone "But there are many other very unique places that have their own charm…"

Xi's eyes instantly glowed as she turned to Madara "Say more Lord! Tell me of other places!" She shouted in excitement.

Madara just deadpans for a second before taking a deep breath 'me and my loud mouth'.

"Well… Omashu was built around the tales of a certain couple, I don't remember all the details but there is a somewhat romantic background to that city, not only that… it's a very… 'vertical city', like… it's not as big as the Northern Watertribe's capital, nowhere close, but it compensates for verticality, with many tall buildings stacking together, and they were very creative with it. They have many stone slides all over the city that are used to carry stuff around and sometimes even people!" Madara concluded with a chuckle, remembering the scene in the show where Aang and Bumi would abuse the slides for the sake of fun.

"OOOOOH!!!" Xi was trembling in excitement "I want to go there one day! I don't know what a slide is, but it sounds incredible!"

All the other three just deadpan at her reaction 'Why the hell would you get so excited if you don't even know what it is?!'

Coughing, Madara continued "Then there's the big one… Ba Sing Se… that city alone can fit both the Fire Nation and Nothern Watertribe's capital and still have room for my Resort, Omashu, Gao Ling with some left-over space…. And that's just within the inner walls, to be honest… that city is like a nation of its own… And they improved the Slide idea from Omashu turning it into vehicles that safely carry people around, not just two to five or ten but up to hundreds!"

Xi somehow managed to produce a notebook and a charcoal and started writing everything down while nodding her head viciously, for a moment the other three were actually worried that her neck would just snap…

"And what is Gao Ling, Lord?" Xi Asked.

Madara chucked, this girl… "I think Nari here would be the best one to describe Gao Ling, she lived there for years"

Nari raised an eyebrow at that but didn't mind, she was born and raised in Gao Ling, but before she could say anything, Kaliya in all her wisdom interfered.

"Shouldn't ye be…HIC…. piloting the airship, Nari?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, her hiccup was loud and clear to all.

Shaking her head the mature woman replied "You don't expect me to be sitting on a pilot seat for sixteen hours do you?"

"Well.. Jackie did…" She said remembering their trip to her homeland.

Nari facepalmed and let out an exasperated sigh "It's not needed… there are contraptions to keep the airship going in a straight line, unless there are other airships around or an obstacle ahead, there's no need to stay there… I always take half-hour breaks every now and then…"

But then her eyes narrowed "It seems I need to double down on Lei's teachings…" her voice was dangerously oppressive.

""Gulp"" Both Madara and Kaliya gulped hard but Xi was as confused as hell.

"Jackie? Lei? Are you married to two men, Mrs. Nari?"

"…" 

""Pfff… BAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"" Both Madara and Kaliya couldn't hold themselves. Even Nari was holding back her own laughter as well.

"Like I would be able to endure the stupidity of more than one man in my life," she said with a joking tone until she stared at Madara who raised his eyebrows. 

"I take offense to that!" He spoke.

"You are more like a son to me Madara… you know what… do you want a second 'Jackie' in your life?"

"Ugh…" Madara and Kaliya stared at each other "No I think we are good with just one…."

Nari shrugged "So am I!"

Xi raised her hand to speak, like a good kid. "Oh, I have a question!" She shouted excitedly.

"Sure go ahead…"

"Why do you have two names Lord? Could it be that your parents couldn't decide which name you should have and gave you both of them?" Xi asked, but not a hint of sarcasm was there, she was completely clueless.

The other three chuckled, but it was Nari who answered, Madara was still catching his breath after his laughter and Kaliya was… dead drunk… "Uchiha is his Family name…"

"Family Name? What does that mean?" She asked while looking towards the resident Uchiha.

"Some families, powerful families that have somewhat of a strong legacy to leave behind, can adopt family names… although it's curious that neither the Chief of the Northern Watertribe, the Earth King or the Fire Lord have family names… I mean… it is a hereditary position, and it's a hell of a legacy…. One would think…" Madara said.

Nari, the ever-knowledgeable woman, cleared his doubts "They don't need it… their position is stronger than any name, family names are a symbol of Nobility, not Royalty. That and to earn a family name one must be acknowledged by an already noble family… it's not just a thing of wanting it, the point is… they become equals after nomination, but who would be an equal to nominate the Fire Lord, Earth King, and Water Chief? No one, not in a social status at least."

"By the way Nari… do you want a family name?" Madara wanted to ask this for a while now, Lei and Nari are so close to him, he wanted to at least elevate their social status, he could, so… why wouldn't he?

Nari had a motherly smile on her face as she looked towards her 'son' "There's no need for that Madara…"

"But there's no need for you to reject either!" He spoke

"But-"

"No 'buts', it literally costs me nothing other than acknowledging and nominating you… and I already acknowledged both you and Jackie years ago! Why don't you just accept?! Even Jackie was excited about it back then…"

"We don't want to bring you any burden, you nominating us means that you will be responsible for our family for several years if any of us do something bad… you are the one that they will aim at…"

"So what? Who do you think I am?" He said with a narrow gaze and deep voice.

Nari couldn't help but hug Madara tightly, she wanted, she really… really wanted, but never asked. Madara already offered in the past, but she didn't want to accept and burden him with their issues for the next decade, she always knew he was strong… a very strong man but still just a man… he bleeds and could even be killed… but after seeing him rag dolling two humongous dragons the other day to the point of taming both of them… she couldn't help but agree in her heart, he was not just a man, he is Madara Uchiha, a name that would bring even the toughest of people to tremble in the near future.

"A-and what name have you and my husband come up with?" She asked with tears of happiness in her eyes.

Madara grinned as he gave her a folded piece of cloth with a spiral green dragon in the clouds.

"Wulong." 

…

The night eventually fell and they landed safely on a deserted island already in the Earth Kingdom's waters, quite close to the resort actually, but Nari was tired and no one had the heart to ask her to stay up just to arrive a little earlier, it's only a five-hour flight from now on.

Unfortunately, the next day's event made them regret that decision…

As the Airship moved forwards, from a distance, everyone could see some smoke coming out of the horizon, not a lot… but not a little either. 

"Isn't that location…" said Kaliya in shock, Nari also was not only shocked but incredibly worried.

Madara was first shocked for several seconds before he frowned and grinded his teeth, the Sharingan already activated and his once carefree, friendly and funny personality went on a complete shift.

"Those bugs…" His voice was low, but his rage and anger could be felt, he understood the tactics, with the Avatar alive and kicking… they wanted to keep Madara in his lands, the worst thing for the Fire Nation would be to have Madara joining Aang at this point.

Would they do it personally? No, they would not send their own soldiers to do the dirty job, that's what mercenaries are for anyway. What they wanted to do was keep Madara busy and always worried about his goldmine and his people.

Would Madara think it was them? Yes, but they are not the only ones trying to bring down his ownership over the western part of the Earth Kingdom, the Dai Li was very much against Madara, already considering him a threat, and they made their move under the name of the Earth King.

So obviously, both parties joined together in this since their goals aligned. Who cares about the War when there's a rare opportunity to solve the immediate threat that is already on their doorstep anyway?

They know that removing Madara from this world was a long shot, but reducing his already huge influence would already be a start! What was the worst that could happen? In their eyes, Madara would retaliate and destroy those mercenaries for good.

Both parties believed that Madara would never act directly against them as it would be counter-productive to his own interests, considering that it was all done under the rug, if Madara acted against it he would be seen as a criminal.

…Poor bastards couldn't even realize that Madara Uchiha didn't play politics… 

In less than a second, Madara suddenly disappeared from his position. The other three could only see an open door that led to the balcony.

"H-hey he isn't thinking…" Xi was a bit scared of Madara's visage.

"Nari, lower our altitude and go full speed, the time to be stealthy is over!" Shouted Kaliya with as much rage as Madara in her voice.

"I don't know how they figured out that we left with such little notice." Nari narrowed her eyes with an evil gleam. "But I agree… if anything happened to my husband…" she gripped the control wheel so hard that her hands became pale white.

"But what about Lord Madara?!" Asked Xi in panic.

… bitch… please…

…

Smoke was rising from some of the destroyed resort buildings, the ones close to the shoreline were the ones affected, and many bodies were lying on the ground either bleeding, burned, crushed, or cut.

On the docks, several ships of various sizes were seen trying to take over the harbor.

It was obvious that this was not from any nation in specific just by judging by their attires and ships, they were mercenaries… a shit load of mercenaries, even the foremost ship was from a very well-known mercenary group, the Rough Rhinos.

As the group of bandits were trying their best to kill the resisting guards, everyone could feel the temperature rising exponentially.