CH 20 - ATLA 19 - Misty Palms Oasis

(Word Count: 2,881)

Misty Palms Oasis was created around a large chunk of ice that had probably been put there by a powerful waterbender, or a past avatar. It served as the source of water for the entire town. Now, the large glacier has melted down to only a tiny patch.

The Oasis became a place for crooks and bounty hunters.

I had stopped my Earth Skating a fair bit away from the town, so I didn't cause a disturbance from the rumbling, and walked the rest of the way. I wasn't in the actual sands of the desert yet, but I was already cursing the sun. I was already thirsty.

Under the desert sun, I had to strip off my armor, because I was instantly soaked in sweat. I even took one of my extra shirts, which were the large robe-like yukata shirts, and wrapped it around my head to protect myself from the heat. It also helped to hide my identity, because I had a wanted poster, and some of the bounty hunters here would surely recognize me.

Though they may recognize me for my large sword, there was nothing I could do about that. I would just have to deal with them.

As I walked into town, there were some of the sandbenders with their sand sailors on the outskirts, and they leered at me as I passed. I looked them up and down and had a thought. Having one of those boats would make my search for the library much easier. They didn't seem that tough anyway. Eh, they don't seem too tough. With that thought, I pivoted mid-stride and headed towards them.

They all straightened up and several hands went to their weapons.

"Hello there!" I called out cheerfully.

"Whatchu want?" One of them spat in a thick accent.

"I'm here searching for a professor from Ba Sing Se, have you seen him?" If I remembered correctly, the professor had hired sandbenders to help him on some of his expeditions into the desert.

"Maybe, maybe not, what's it to ya?"

"I'm here to join him, and it seems like the best way to navigate the desert would be on your sand sailors here. I'm sure he hired you, right? So do you know where I can find him?"

"Tch. The man ran out of money to pay us, so we ain't working with him no more. He's over at the bar, right there," the sandbender pointed over my shoulder to the only bar in sight, right next to the little patch of ice in the center of the small town.

"I see. How much would it cost to purchase one of these sailors of yours?"

"100 silver," The man said instantly. 

"Do you take Water Tribe coin?" I asked.

"If it's good coin, then yeah."

"Alright, 100 is a little expensive, but can you take 20 Water Tribe coins for me to rent it for one trip? I'll return it to you in one piece."

"How long'll you be out? A week?"

"That sounds about right. I'll get it back to you in one week."

The man thought about it, before looking to the rest of his men and his boats. They had 3 different sailors, but they could make do with only two for a little while. Plus, the sailors didn't really work outside the desert sands so they could always find me or the boat somewhere in the desert if I tried to cheat them.

"Alright, you've got a deal, but if I find it damaged in any way I'll be taking it outta yer skin," he said.

"I'll go and talk to the professor, but we should be heading out first thing tomorrow. I'll pay you then," I said. I didn't want to give them the coin now and wake up tomorrow morning to find them gone.

The man just grunted and turned away.

'Huh, that was surprisingly more cordial than I thought they would be,' I thought. I left towards the bar.

Next to the bar, I noticed some shaded stables for mounts. I couldn't exactly say horses, since they didn't exist, and there were plenty of rideable animals that were commonly used. Inside one of these, I noticed a shirshu, Nyla. The mercenary June was here.

I hesitated for a brief moment, remembering her teasing, but entered anyway.

The inside wasn't full, but spread out amongst the tables were seedy looking men, many of them were shirtless, or wearing a sleeveless gi. There were a couple of stand outs. One, was the only woman in the room, June. She was alone at one of the tables, feet up and drinking from an ice cup. She was scowling death threats at anyone that looked like they were going to approach her.

The other stand out was an old man, whose skin was like tanned leather. He was sitting calmly at the pai sho table in the corner. He was one of the members of the White Lotus, and the one that helped Iroh and Zuko escape from some bounty hunters unseen. There was a meeting spot for the order here in town in a flower shop, but you needed this guy's introduction to be let in.

I had no need to actually go to him right now, so I ignored him.

Lastly, there was the professor. The man had a large full pack sitting on the floor right next to him, and he was poring over a map of the desert and charting the course for the next expedition.

He didn't notice me until I was right next to him. I shrugged off my own pack and plopped it down next to the table. The man startled.

"Oh! Spirits, man, don't startle me like that!" 

"I'm sorry for the scare. My name's Callan Stone. I've heard about your search for the library, and I wanted to help."

"What, really!" His face lit up in excitement. "You're here to search as well? Excellent! Though I must admit, I haven't been having much luck. I've been out there several times already, without a single clue. Oh! Where are my manners? I am Professor Zei, I am the head of Anthropology at Ba Sing Se University."

"It's nice to meet you, Professor Zei. May I know what sort of clues you're looking for out in the desert?"

"Well, not really any clues, but, well, here," Zei dug through his pack and pulled out a scroll. He unrolled it out on the table. It was an old drawing of the Library. "The library is huge! As big as the Earth King's palace! I should be able to spot it easily."

I shook my head. "If it was so large and out in the open, it wouldn't just be a legend, but a known landmark for navigating the desert. The Sandbenders would be able to lead you right to it. This is a sandy desert, and the library is ancient. It's most likely been buried beneath the sands. So, instead of searching for a huge palace, maybe search for just the tops of the towers?" I suggested, pointing to the tip of the center tower.

Professor Zei's eyes widened in realization. "Of course!" He shouted in glee, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room. "I should have realized it sooner! Thank you, Mr. Stone!" 

I sighed. So much for keeping a low profile.

"With your help, we're bound to find it now!"

"Hey you!" One of the bounty hunters came over and glowered at me. He was shirtless, only wearing an earthbender's skirt/shorts, whatever they were called, and some bracers. He had a large hammer strapped to his side. Professor gulped, and shrunk down into his chair. He held up my bounty poster, which also depicted my sword. "This you?"

"Nope. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to talk business with the professor here," I said, just as sternly back at him.

He grabbed his hammer. "I don't think so, bud. Let me take a look at that sword there. It should be worth a good bit of gold."

What an idiot.

"Gold?" All of the other men grabbed their own weapons, except June. She just stood up and walked casually to the door and leaned against the wall and sipped at her drink to watch whatever chaos was about to unfold.

The idiotic bounty hunter looked around at the rest, who were grabbing their own weapons and eyeing me with greed. "Hey! Back off! I saw him first! He's mine!"

"Phrasing." I snarked and kicked him in the back while he was distracted. Chaos immediately ensued, as people lunged forward to attack. I stomped, brought my arms up, and a large stone wall rose up to shield us. I turned to the professor, who was gathering his things in a panic. "Professor Zei, don't worry about anything. I'll deal with these guys quickly, and I'll meet you first thing in the morning for our expedition into the desert. I've arranged to rent one of the sandbender's sailors for us."

That was all I could get across before the one I had kicked had smashed through the wall with his hammer. Another man leapt over the wall acrobatically, landing on the table, and brandished his duel blades. I drew my own sword, the large damascus greatsword caught the attention of both of the men gunning for me.

"Give it up, Stone! You're coming in with me! And that blade is mine!" The man on the table said.

"Don't get ahead of yourself! He's coming with me!" The man with the hammer said as he pushed through the opening he had made in my stone wall.

Using Seismic Sense, I could see the rest of the men in the bar already storming forward, pushing and fighting each other to get at me.

I took a deep breath, centering myself, and swung horizontally at the man on the table's legs. He blocked, but the force of the blow caught him by surprise, and his blade was pushed back. I still managed to get a decent cut in, and his legs were swept out from underneath him. He fell on his side on the table.

"Wai—" He started, but I dodged out of the way of the Hammer-guy's downward hammer strike. The hammer missed me, but continued forward and smashed into the other guy's face, cutting off what he was about to say. His face crunched in on itself, and he was dead.

As I dodged, I brought my own sword low, and stepped past the hammer-guy, slicing my sword up into his armpits. The man was an idiot to go into a fight without a shirt on. His vitals were completely exposed.

The man dropped his hammer, and his arm fell limp. He cried out in pain, and tried to staunch the bleeding, but it was useless. He would bleed out in a minute or two. I flicked all the blood off of my sword and punched the stone wall I made. It burst outward sending chunks of stone into the crowd. I directed the chunks to only target the worst of the bunch, the ones that seemed the most dangerous, and away from anyone that wasn't actually involved, like the old man at the pai sho table, June who was just watching, and the bartender who was looking despondently at all of the ruined tables.

The wall was gone now, but that was okay. There were only a couple of people still standing. Only 2 of them had died from taking a chunk of stone to the head, but most of them seemed to be regretting the choice to try to fight me already.

I took off the shirt wrapped around my head. It was annoying and my cover was blown anyway.

"All of you stand down!" I commanded. "No one's collecting my bounty today. Some of you have already died, there's no need for more."

I really debated just killing them all here, because otherwise word will go around that I am here with the professor. I didn't know if I would be able to search for the library in peace now, but at the same time, while I was now willing to kill my enemies, I didn't want to just kill everyone that stood against me out of convenience.

I was strong enough in this world to handle some retaliation anyway.

"O-okay, whatever you say, boss," one of the men stammered. "Right, guys?"

Everyone else nodded. There was an awkward silence, until a slow clap began. June leaned against the wall by the front door, clapping.

"Well, well, that was very impressive there, shy guy," June said, smirking. She looked me up and down. "And you've somehow gotten even hotter."

I sighed, "My name's Callan, please just call me that."

June pushed off the wall and sauntered over. "Oh, I don't know about that. When we parted ways, I was expecting you to come find me at the inn to share my bed. You never showed up. What else can you be, if not Shy Guy?" 

"I remember you only said 'see you around,' that's not exactly an invitation."

"I'll be direct then. The way you manhandled everyone in the room was hot. Now take me up to my room," She walked her fingers up my chest and leaned in to whisper in my ear, "and take me."

I shivered, face red, but I forced it down. I gently pulled her hand off of me and pushed her back to arms length. I had literally just killed several people, and this woman was hitting on me? This isn't exactly the best time. "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested."

She scoffed, "That's a lie."

I continued. "I'm not interested in a one night stand with someone I don't know. I appreciate the interest, but no. I have some business I need to take care of with the professor anyway."

She grimaced. "This is the second time you're blowing me off for 'business' with a man. If you're gay, just say so."

"I'm not gay!"

"Whatever. Anyway, you're going on an expedition with the professor there, aren't you?" We both looked over to Professor Zei, who was downing the nearest alcoholic drink and fanning himself. The brief bout of violence must have left him shaken.

"Yeah. We're searching for the Library of Wan Shi Tong. Though, it's just a legend."

"I can understand the professor wanting to find it, but why do you? You don't seem like the scholarly type," she asked curiously.

I laughed wryly. "That's because you didn't know me before. I was a chubby university student before we met."

She gawked, looking me up and down again. "Spirits, I don't believe it. How'd you go from a chubby scholar to this."

I had to stop myself from preening at the compliment, but I smiled. "It's a long story."

She rested a hand on my arm. "Why don't I buy you a drink and you can tell me all about it?"

I very nearly agreed before my mind ground to a halt. This reminded me of a persistent guy trying to bring a girl home, but the roles were reversed. And I was very nearly swept away in the flow of it. I stepped away from her. "Spirits, woman, this isn't the time! I've already said no."

"Tch, fine! Have it your way then!" She grumbled. "But next time, you won't be getting away from me, mark my words." She sauntered outside.

After watching her leave, I turned to the professor. "Anyway, professor, let's go get some supplies for the trip." I turned to the professor, but he shrunk away from me, his face pale.

"I-I-I d-don't think I'm quite ready for another journey just yet." 

I frowned. "I'm not going to hurt you, Professor Zei."

He couldn't look at me. I scrubbed my face, suddenly tired, and groaned. "Fine, I'll just go look by myself," I muttered. This was probably for the best. The Gaang needed him to even know about the library, much less find it. Though, the raid on the solar eclipse didn't work out anyway, was it really necessary for them to find it?

I looked around for the Pai Sho man, but he had left. There goes my White Lotus contact.

I grabbed my things and stormed out of the building.

"Heh! You regret letting me go, did you?" I hear June's voice next to me. I turned and she was there by the stables, packing up Nyla. She was grinning ear to ear.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, June. Apparently, after seeing me kill several people and knowing I have a bounty, the professor doesn't want to work with me any more. So I'll be heading out to the desert by myself."

I walked over and extended a hand to Nyla. She sniffed me, and nuzzled her head against my hand. June's heart melted. "Aww! Nyla likes you!"

After a moment of petting Nyla behind the ears, I stepped away. "Alright, I've got a library to get to. Good luck on your journey, wherever you're going."

"See you around, Shy Guy." This time, her voice was a touch more genuine.