22 Oasis

A black-colored airship navigated above a vast desert with sand as far as the eye could see, and the only notable landmark was a huge flat mountain on the horizon.

It was already sunset and the temperature was already dropping.

The big airship navigated through the desert until nightfall, finally landing at safe distance from the rock. No one would ever go close to that place, not unless they had suicidal tendencies.

Kaliya exited the airship while stretching her limbs, then did a small warm-up before starting to run. It was a common exercise for her at this point, every night when they landed the pirate girl would go out to do her workout routine.

Lei went to their stock room and grabbed supplies to prepare their dinner, he had the habit of humming songs while cooking or doing anything related to it.

Madara on the other hand was sitting in his cabin with a huge frown on his face, he huffed and stood up, walking out and closing the door with a bang.

Lei just gave him space, not commenting on it.

'What the hell am I doing wrong?' thought Madara as he sat on the stairs of the airship's exit point, staring at the starry sky.

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and tried to meditate again, wasting a few hours on it until a female voice broke his meditation.

"Still having issues, Boss?"

Sigh. "I don't know what I am doing wrong, Kaliya." He massaged his forehead with a troubled expression.

She shrugged. "Ye been stuck inside that cabin for three days now, why don't ye tell me what ye are trying to achieve? Perhaps I can help."

Closing his eyes and considering for a minute he just nodded. "Have you ever heard of the chakras?"

Kaliya made a thoughtful expression. "Aye, not much but I know I heard the old healer from me tribe talking about it once."

Opening his eyes and staring at the dunes, Madara explained. "I'm trying to open my chakras, I discovered the method but… I can't do it"

She chuckled. "That's understandable, I am rather relieved that you are having trouble with it."

Madara stared at her with a confused gaze, she noticed and explained. "Ye are a little monster Boss, ye managed to generate lightning in half a month without a proper teacher, ye learned the most impressive firebending technique that I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot, on top of that…" She pointed to him "Ye are what... 11? 12?"

Madara just chuckled

She continued "That's not normal, even prodigies aren't like that… " Kaliya sighed and sat beside him. "People want to be geniuses, who doesn't? Talent dictates a lot, it means a good future, it means potential… but…. what people forget is that excess of anything is also an issue, it makes you look less like one of us… regular folk."

She turned to him and asked "Is that what ye want to become, Boss? Someone so above everyone else that no one will be able to understand you, no one will be able to befriend you? It's like they say, when two people have similar talents and one is better than the other, it generates envy. When two people have vastly different talents and one is better than the other, it generates acceptance… but... when you have two people that have vastly different talents and one is absurdly above the other… it generates rejection, apathy, and depending on the circumstances… fear."

Madara raised one of his eyebrows "I'm pretty sure that's not exactly how it works, I met many people that didn't fit that pattern at all."

Kaliya spat on the floor "Stop that nitpicking will ya? There's no 100% in the world, every rule has exceptions, obviously what I'm talking about would have it too, I'm not talking about the top 1% that would never give up and always try to improve, I'm talking about the masses. The other 99% that don't have faces and are just considered numbers."

Chuckling again Madara gestured for her to continue.

"Everyone has dreams Boss, and people tend to empathize and surround themselves with people that have similar dreams and goals. When I look at Jackie I can clearly see his goal in life, he wants to help ye, he respects ye, but above all… he is a family man, he wants the best for his wife and his goal in life is family."

"Then what's your dream, Kaliya?"

She grinned "Freedom."

He chuckled "A very pirate-like answer, ironic that you accepted working for me though."

She snorted "As I said, there's no 100%, obviously, it's impossible to be 100% free and only an idiot wouldn't be able to see that. We are all bound to something. But I like to believe that I'm free, I got to choose following ye, make no mistake Boss… I'm here with ye because I want to be, exploring the world sounds exciting even though I have no clue about our future, in fact, it makes it a bit more exciting, every day is a new surprise."

"That's why you left the Northern Water Tribe?"

She closed her lips and stared at him for a second "One day we will talk about why I left me home, make sure to bring me a lot of booze. But that day ain't today."

He nodded in silence.

"But I have me dreams and me goals, what about ye Boss? What is the grand goal of Madara Uchiha, the legendary Greedy Ghost?"

He chuckled "They changed to Red-eye Ghost now, with some just calling me Red Ghost. The survivors of that day surely couldn't keep their mouths shut."

"Answer the damn question, Boss."

He sighed "I'm… doing a job…" he didn't go into details, obviously.

"A Job? What job?"

"Tracking someone"

"Like rescuing or bounty hunting?"

"… Yes…"

She closed her eyes "I see, but that's just a short-term thing, that's not what ye want in life, that's just a job, which means it's something that was imposed on ye… that ain't yours, so tell me... what is YOUR dream or goal, Boss."

He couldn't answer that, he didn't know how… the closest thing would be 'To enjoy life' but that would be EVERYONE's final goal, the question is… 'what do I want to do so I can enjoy life?' because just living one day at a time without goals and dreams is not living, it's surviving.

"I don't quite know …"

She nodded "That's good then!"

"What?"

She shrugged "Acceptance is the first step to fixing an issue, ye lost… and now that ye know that, ye can work on finding yeself."

Madara started chuckling "You are very wise for a pirate, aren't you?"

She nodded with a prideful expression "Of course I am! I'm wisdom incarnate, people just can't see that." she chuckled too.

He laughed at that.

"So… my goals and dreams are related to my chakras…"

"Aye, ye need to know yeself first before working on it, but have no hurry and take ye time, live a life worthy of being lived, and when ye finally find out… hopefully, we won't be old bones by then…" she laughed while standing up "I will be going to eat something now, don't stay out here too long or Jackie will come to nag ya, I swear that man behaves like a housewife… it's obvious who wears the pants in his marriage" she laughed loudly as she walked inside the airship.

Madara chuckled and stared at the horizon "Live a life worth being lived, eh?" he grinned "Now that's a nice dream, the question is… how to achieve that?"

Feeling like he took a huge boulder off his shoulders, he stood up and walked back inside the airship before Lei came to annoy him ... 'that man does behave like a fucking housewife, doesn't he? God dammit…'

Two days later they landed inside a hidden canyon northwest of the Misty Palm Oasis, a town located on the southwestern edge of the desert, the buildings had a unique square design with bulb-shaped roofs, it was built around an oasis that was considered to have spiritual properties.

"Alright Kaliya you will stay here to protect our things," said Madara

"Mr. Uchiha, with no offense but… Kaliya can't pilot the ship, I believe I am a better choice for the job."

Both Madara and Kaliya stared at Lei with deadpan expressions.

"What?!"

Kaliya answered, "Ye aren't a bender Jackie, ye are a good fighter I admit it, but if sandbenders discover this place ye won't be able to hold long, ye won't even have time to turn on the engine and fly away considering how stealthy they can be in the desert."

Madara nodded "She is right, the town is only 30 minutes by foot from here, if any situation occurs, she might be able to hang in there until we get back, I don't plan on staying for long."

Sigh "Alright Mr. Uchiha I will do as commanded," he said while trying to hide some mixed emotions that he felt.

"OH!" Kailya exclaimed while catching the attention of both men. "I get it now! That's right ye hate sand, Nari told me that one time-"

"ALRIGHT, MR. UCHIHA, LET'S GO!" said Lei cutting Kaliya off, before turning to her and staring at her eyes with a flame of hatred "We don't have time to listen to your nonsense stories, you brute."

Madara just shrugged and walked away.

Lei was about to do the same but before leaving he turned to Kaliya and made the 'I have my eyes on you' sign, to which she displayed her smug grin 'heh'.

They walked out of the canyon, Madara used his firebending to jump between rocks and reach the top before throwing a rope down so Lei could climb.

They walked for a half-hour before crossing the Misty Palm Oasis' walls and what they saw was a rather… depressing… sight, the town looked very dilapidated, not quite falling apart but it could be seen that it has been years since anyone did proper maintenance around here.

People were sitting under cloth awnings to enjoy the shade with empty gazes. Very few cheerful people were around, even the bazaar was quite devoid of life, only a handful of vendors had anything slightly interesting for sale, and the others just sold scavenged items they found around the desert hoping for some profit.

'Oh great, I just entered Mos Espa…'

Walking around only two places caught his attention, one is obviously the "Pristine Natural Ice Spring" which was supposed to be a huge block of ice around which the whole town was built around, but calling it disappointing would be an understatement, the block of ice had nearly disappeared after centuries.

The second one was a calligraphy school, a rather small building that had only one person inside, a man in his late 20s or early 30s with a buzz cut, clean shaved face, and long beige and green scholar robes. When they passed by it Madara saw the man holding a long stick and writing on a small square white-colored sand garden, and when the man saw Madara he gave him a gentle smile with a nod, which Madara returned in kind.

Tired of looking around, the duo decided to go towards the cantina, they wanted something to drink and today was a rather hot day.

Reaching the place they were met with a crowd.

After walking through the crowd, they saw a man crouched on the floor, the markings on the sand in front of the cantina's entrance told Madara everything he wanted to know 'This man was tossed out' he was not that interested, to be fair.

"You fucking rat!" yelled the man crouching, he had long loose black hair, parted in the middle, with a strong build and youthful face, probably around 16 years old. He wore a green sleeveless shirt and knee-length black pants, with straw sandals to complete his look.

"Get out of here Shen, master Huang Fu already told you that you aren't welcome in this place after what you did!" said a slightly fat man with a long Chinese mustache, receding hairline tied in a high ponytail, and a VERY punchable face.

"Jiang, you bastard! It was you who ratted me!" said the man named Shen while getting up. "I hate rats!" he glared at the man and stomped his foot on the ground, a large rock floated up, and after he did a spin in the air and a kick motion the rock flew towards the fat man who simply smiled as two bodyguards moved their hands and a rock wall protected him.

The conflict escalated and eventually, Shen was taken out by some guards and carried to the jail.

The murmurs echoed through the crowd and Madara kept a thoughtful expression as he heard.

"I heard that Shen used the money to buy food for some children instead of paying the full value to Huang Fu, it seems the fatty there ratted him out."

"Yeah, I heard Shen is actually a good man…"

"... I heard…"

Ignoring the gossip, Madara and Lei walked inside the cantina, and they were received like nobles. Just looking at their fancy robes, the owner of the place treated them. With a lowered head, he served them himself, kicking the poor waiter towards some other customer.

After sitting down and ordering the famous Frost Mango beverages that this particular cantina was known for, Lei looked towards Madara who still had a thoughtful expression, and talked.

"You are thinking about that Earthbender? He seemed powerful and with a right heart… and considering what we heard, if we help him, he would have no issues in joining the team."

"Since when are we looking for an Earthbender?" Madara grinned.

"Since you decided to name a group of people to follow you around during your adventures, Air Nomads are out so we would only need a powerful Earthbender."

Madara nodded "That's true, you are smart Jackie.. "

Jackie puffed his chest with pride and continued "I will talk to that Shen guy, leave it to me, Mr. Uchiha!"

Madara raised an eyebrow "Shen who? Oh, that kid? Nah I don't give a fuck about him."

Jackie instantly deflated "W-what….t-then what?"

"That calligraphy master… when I looked at what he was doing, I noticed something…"

"You noticed what?"

"That I want him in our team at all costs!"