Avatar: The Birth of a New World

(I'm good with it.)

(Go ahead.)

(No! We have so much idle filler to put in! Seriously, go ahead)

General Narrative

A few hours later, Katara and her newfound companions made great strides to getting far away from the estate of the Regent Haru. Now, as the sun set and the moon began to rise, the group had made a make-shift camp in a dense forest. Mai and Longshot had gone hunting, briefly, and had return with enough food to get them through the night.

Mai

Pausing from eating her meal, Mai looked up and over at Katara, and broke the silence that had lasted among the group for some time now.

"So. I suppose you really are the Avatar, then?"

Haru

Haru looked down at the very recently marked graves for the dead outside of his estate, feeling a rush of anger go through him of what the Avatar's escape had cost him today. Damn that girl...!

"Why didn't you tell us?" Longshot asked curiously, though without malice or hatred in his tone. He had secrets of his own, after all, and reasons not to tell them.

After a sigh, Katara nodded. "Yes, I am the Avatar. I denied it because I don't want to be recognized. People... they need me, but there's someone who needs me more. And I've go to go find him as quickly as I can." She felt awful for lieing to them, especially since they had just saved her, but she still felt like it was the best option, and now confessing was, hopefully they'd understand.

Toph didn't say anything, but just continued to eat her meal. She had felt it though, the lie that Katara had told. But it wasn't her business to pry into another's life. It was kind of weird, though, that the Avatar would be the one lying to them all. Wasn't the Avatar supposed to be fixing the mess that the world was in? Wasn't the Avatar the one that should have stopped the slave trade when it started?

At that thought, she couldn't help but speak. "And what then? What will you do, after you find this person?"

"I'll master the elements," Katara said. "So far I've only mastered Water. I'll need to find an Earthbending Master to teach me, since it's the next element in the cycle."

"There are many earthbenders in the Earth Kingdom, but most powerful masters are in hiding or part of the violence. The most powerful I know of is Emperor Bumi, and he'd just as soon as encase you in Creeping Crystals as help you," Longshot pointed out before glancing at Toph. After the others went to bed, he'd have to find out what she felt from their companions.

Toph missed the glance, the movement of Longshot's head not enough for her to realize that there was anything there. Instead she finished off her meal, burped, and lay back on the ground. "An earthbending master, huh?" she mused. That wasn't going to be easy.

Mai

"Whoever needs you, I'm guessing they're very important to you. A family member, perhaps? A dear friend?" Mai raised an eyebrow at Katara. "And you'll want to save them from....Earth Kingdom savages? A Fire Nation Warlord? Maybe the Norther Water Tribe, perhaps? Whichever faction holds your friend or relative. Don't deny it. You wouldn't leave the Southern Water Tribe if it were a simple matter of this being a....blood feud, perhaps. Or if someone from your Tribe had taken your friend or relative. Hm. You are Southern, aren't you?"

Mai paused to take an additional bite of her meat before going on. "As I see it, at your current state you are no use to your captured companion. You only know water. What good would that do you in the dry lands of the Earth Kingdom, or if your water-skin is taken if you are ever captured? Water could be useful against a firebender, perhaps, but a platoon of them? Or against a powerful earthbender? Even your sisters in the North have an advantage over you, the Avatar, by knowing how to manipulate the blood of one's body."

Mai paused again, and stared hard at Katara.

"Do you deny this, Avatar Katara?"

Longshot smiled over at Toph, guessing her thoughts. His tone became light and he said, "At least that means you'll find a master too, Toph."

He glanced over at Mai, somewhat taken aback by her speech. That was the most she had ever spoken to anybody since they met her. She must be a politician's daughter or something. She definitely had a past.

Meng bit her lip as she awkwardly stood behind Haru. She had been there for well over ten minutes, but still he hadn't seemed to notice her at all. She reached out a hand towards him, but then let it drop back down to her side before she could get even close to touching him.

"I'm sorry...," she finally whispered.

------

Toph propped herself up on her elbow and glanced first at Mai, then Longshot, and then finally Katara. Mai's speech had been bold, but it also had a lot of truth to it. Getting stronger was the only way to survive in a world like this, much less help somebody else to survive.

"A master would be nice," she said. Really nice.

Katara stared at Mai for a moment, returning the hard look. "My brother was captured by the Northern Tribe, when he went to fight against them," she said. "I'm not a fully realized Avatar, but I'm not useless, I'm a waterbending master. I may have limitations, but that's not the same thing as being useless, and I can overcome them. I can handle myself."

Haru

"The Avatar will pay for what she's done here." Haru whispered fiercely. "Those who died here will not go unavenged. I may have felt sorry for her before, for whatever fate Emperor Bumi had in mind for her...but now I'll eagerly send her to her death."

Mai

"And did you handle yourself when you were captured by that Regent?" Mai asked with a returning stare. "If you had known earthbending, then you could have escaped long before we rescued you. At the very least, I think you should consider learning earthbending. We're going to be on this continent for weeks, if not months, before we reach the Northern Water Tribe."

((I just now realized Katara's giant pet wolf Nanuk was never mentioned as being rescued. Um. Oh well. We'll all just pretend he broke out with them. Agreed?))

(I kept meaning to mention it, but whenever I posted I forgot about it! Yeah that's fine with me.)

"He had me chained up, only Firebending might have helped me then," Katara countered, not wanting to give up the argument. "But you're right, it would be best if I started Earthbending training. The only problem is that I don't know any earthbending masters, or where one might be."

Mai

"Toph can start your training, I imagine." Mai replied, gesturing toward the blind girl. "She may not be a master herself, yet, but she can get you started on the basics. In the meantime, we'll keep an eye out for a proper master as we travel to the Northern Water Tribe. Is that agreeable?"

Longshot nodded in agreement, but nonetheless, he turned asked Toph her opinion, "Would you be willing to teach Katara earthbending, Toph?"

Toph gave a nod of her head. "I don't see why not." She tilted her head towards Katara. "I mean, if you can handle it." Here she grinned. "Earth is a very stubborn and hard element, after all." But the results...? She smiled inwardly. They were well worth it. What she wouldn't give to be a master of this element that helped her to see.

Katara nodded, saying, "Ok, I agree. If you are willing, Toph, I will learn earthbending from you." Even though it would get her started on her path to being the Avatar, Katara was mostly concerned with getting to the North Pole, and how Sokka was faring. Everything else was a secondary concern compared to his safety, even as she knew it was selfish of her to think so.

((Let's see. I think that about wraps everything up. Hooray! After all this time, we have finally managed to get past our pilot episode. So, if no one objects, shall we continue onwards to the next episode?))

((Yes, please ))

(The Boulder wants to be introduced! Please, so the Boulder will stop breaking the fourth wall.)

(I'm ready!)

(I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready! )