Avatar Crossroads: Crucible Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Hawk and the Crow

I was woozy, waking up in one of the cabins of the ferry. I sat up, realizing the cabin was empty. Saren must have woken up, I wiped my brow with a frown. I never liked travelling on boats, always made me queasy.
Making my way out of the cabin and past the other random travelers I made my way onto the ship’s deck. It relied on electronic rudders to move it forward, so it moved faster than a ship equipped with sails… lessened the time to get to Su Hiron to a twenty-hour journey. I noticed it was morning, with a soft fog covering the sea… we were nearing our destination.
I saw him standing at the railing on the front of the ship, looking as calm as ever. Saren continued to look out over the water, as if perplexed by the fog. As I drew closer I took in a few parts of his clothing, much different from my usual black and red. He wore blue jeans on top of winter climate boots, his shirt was a dark sort of gray with a yellow crescent moon emblemized over it. The winter coat he had worn was replaced with a thinner white coat with blue trimming along its bottom and cuffs.
Considering it was still cold out, it made him look a little awkward in this fog, but I realized it didn’t even phase him. His messy brown hair casually moved with the wind, but that wasn’t the only movement I’d quickly associate with Saren.  I reached the railing beside my friend, taking his same position, sensing a silent vibration within him.
“You seem uneasy.”
“Oh it’s just…” he murmured, “Been a long time since I’ve ever been anywhere besides the north.” I smiled.
“Yeah, kinda reminds me of that stuff you talked about, when we get our big break, we’d go up against lots of other teams from around the world.”
“Now you’re almost getting me nostalgic.” Saren smiled, “I can’t help but feel a little uneasy, but I guess it’s been a long time since I’ve felt anything”-
“Apart from cold that is.” He rolled his eyes, not responding. We continued staring into the fog, when Saren edged forward, seeing something, “What’s wrong?”
“Don’t you see it?” he asked, and I turned my gaze, looking out to see… lights, wooden docks approaching us. A small fishing village began to open up, forming through the fog. My eyes widened at the place, smiling.
I had spent over five months in the Northern Water tribe… a little change was overdue.
“So this is it, Su Hiron?” Saren asked, I let him draw his own conclusion. “The place where your friend is?”
“Yeah,”
“So, where is he?” Saren asked, “Does he have a name or something?”
“Oh don’t worry about that… you two have actually met before.” I replied, confusing him. I was about to turn and get grab my backpack in the cabin when Saren continued, “I take it he’s not one of them, because I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen them before”-
“What?” I turned, and then froze, seeing what appeared to be a group of people, standing at the docks, eying our ship especially. In the center of them was a woman, who was very familiar to me. “Nikta.”
“Nope, name doesn’t ring a bell.” I scowled. The strikers called in ahead of our arrival.

KOKORO POV

Getting onto this boat was a handful, especially getting around the ticket master who was hell bent on doing his job. I found myself sitting in one of the vacant cabins, looking out over the water. Because I had spent most of my time watching Connor and his friend, I didn’t get much sleep. I looked through the window, discovering we had reached our destination. I tugged on the hood I had been using to help hide myself from the targets, reaching the foggy outside. Saren and Connor both quickly stepped out of their cabins, making their way to the side of the ship facing away from the dock. After a swift pep-talk, they both jumped off the railing and into the cold water bellow, confusing me to no end.
“What the”- Looking to the other side I then saw a group of people… waiting at the dock, leading them was a woman with dark brown hair that fell into a thick ponytail. She was an archer, with a bow hanging from her back and a quiver filled with arrows. I recognized her easily from my time in the Northern Water Tribe.
She was Abhik Nishi’s former assistant, Nikta Collins… Hawk. The woman who I had met the day I joined the strikers, and a former friend of my mother. I looked back to where Connor and Saren started swimming, watching as they paddled their way to one of the wooden docks, eying Nikta and her entourage.
“Those idiots…” I eyed the other travelers, watching as they quietly made their way off of the boat without looking once to Nikta. I swiftly did the same, bypassing the ticket master who stood at the side of the exit with his arms crossed, eying us. I slipped to the side of a couple, evading his gaze and continuing to walk. When I reached the beginning of the harbor, I looked back to Saren and Connor, noticing them casually hiding and making their way up to the land. I smirked a little at seeing how uncomfortable Connor looked in all of this. Nikta was about to look their way when I turned with an awkward smile. “Hi.” I replied, “You lookin’ for someone?” I asked, trying my hardest not to sound like I did the times I met her before.
“Oh, yeah but…” she paused, eying me. “I’m a little busy and”-
“Oh I understand,” I replied, “It’s just been a while since I’ve seen any of my friends and you kinda remind me of one of them.” That reply immediately took Nikta’s attention away from the boys.
Guilt had that kind of effect.
“Oh it’s no trouble.” She smiled, “Do I know you?” I frowned.
“I wouldn’t think so, I’m just travelling and”-
“You just seem familiar.”
“I… I get that a lot.” I lied, watching from the corner of my eye as Saren and Connor escaped the dock, and the strikers for now. “Though I don’t think I’ve actually met you and”-
“It’s just that scarf you’re wearing.” Nikta replied, I froze, “I knew this woman who wore one like it, before passing it to her daughter, but”-
“Well I bought this,” I lied, “Sorry”-
“No its okay… the last thing I need is to see Tanya again.” She muttered, as if irritated… which also irritated me. It made me wonder if they had people trying to track down my mom, bring her to ‘justice’ like the guys who went after Javik.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I fumed quietly, “hope you two can patch it up.”
“Me too I guess.” I walked away, succeeding in my mission to distract her, but also annoyed.
At least this meant Nikta didn’t know me that well, despite the times I met her.
I quickened my pace, getting away from the docks, pausing as I entered the ‘town’ part of the town. People casually walked past me, disappearing from view, I sighed.
‘Where’s Connor and Saren? Did they just disappear on me?’ I easily realized this meant I would need to track them down again. I sighed, only knowing that Connor came here to get help from a mutual friend of ours… who I didn’t know how to find. I continued walking through the street, keeping my eyes open when I saw something perched on a window nearby.
A beautiful firenation messenger hawk, quietly pecking at his feathers… a bird I knew pretty well, remembering friends of mine communicating with another ‘friend’ of mine with a hawk just like that. I approached the window, noticing it was a tavern, and the bird was literally harping on the owner to feed him.
“Leave me alone!” the man yelled, “I’ve got nothing for you!” He tried swinging a broom at the bird, but the animal avoided effortlessly. The cook grew annoyed and returned to his post, while I approached the bird, unsure this was the right one. On his back he wore his usual messenger getup, but it looked different from the usual one (the firenation symbol), this one’s had a sort of green crescent moon for an emblem.
There was only way to know for sure.
“…Ivan?” I asked, and swiftly the bird nodded his head towards me, to which I smiled…

CONNOR POV

I found myself shaking quietly, irritated by the cold water I had just swum through to avoid Nikta. I was absolutely drenched, walking through the street while my friend took it nonchalantly.
“It was your idea.” Saren harped, “Don’t need to get all pouty”-
“Sh-shut up Saren,” I scowled, “Unless you want to tell me you’ve rediscovered how to waterbend, I don’t want to hear it.” My hand shook quietly, creating a small ball of fire, that flickered from my chattering movement. I finally managed to maintain the orb of flame in my hand when Saren shook his head wildly, shooting water away like a shaggy dog and putting out my fire.
“Oh… sorry.” I looked away with a frown. We were now walking through the town and had little no idea where to go.
“We need to get off the streets… if Nikta’s smart she’ll find our footprints and follow the wet trail we’re leaving.”
“So I assume she is smart then”-
“Yes, that’s what I’m assuming.” I replied, annoyed. Saren had slowly managed to perk up when this ‘journey’ started. I was happy for it, though irritated… it was like we were switching emotions at times. He carried his sword beside him, still having no idea how to hold it in public. He needed a scabbard, no getting around it. “We find my friend, and then we can figure out how to get to Republic City.”
“That’s saying if we find your friend at this rate.” I grumbled, looking away. I heard a groan, to which I turned, assuming it to be Saren, but he was silent after his retort. I then heard it again, but I realized that it was coming from me.
I needed to eat, and I had refused to pay for anything they sold on that boat.
As we kept walking we found ourselves approaching a sort of tavern, a random bird flew out of the back of it. I paid it little attention as I looked to the tavern itself, smelling food inside. Instead of actually saying something, I saw Saren gravitate towards it, probably hungry as I was but not wanting to voice it.
I didn’t want to spend money, but at this rate we weren’t going to find Crow on an empty stomach.
As we entered it looked like your regular seedy earth kingdom bar (that also sold food). We found a table and sat down, with a cook eying us and taking our order. Unfortunately the place didn’t have menus, it was all word of mouth so I had to think of the stuff I usually liked to eat (not a small feat). I put money down for myself and Saren and then we waited. I continued casually touching parts of my coat, releasing steam from it with my bending. I was slowly starting to warm up, and the fireplace was helping.
“So I heard you couldn’t go on your route to Angquin today.” A random man muttered, Saren and I looked towards a nearby table with what appeared to be two merchants.
“Yeah, these people set up some checkpoints, not lettin’ anyone through.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Dunno, something about catching a ‘mutt’ or sometin’.” Saren and I looked to each other, and so he turned, looking to them.
“How bad are these checkpoints?” he asked, the merchant turned.
“Oh, worse I ever saw, reminds me of the stuff the Empire pulled, they got everything, mech suits, benders…. I’d reckon it’s impossible to get through, they even got the underground tunnels closed off.”  I scowled, “you two travelin’?”
“Yeah, we’re trying to get to Republic City.” I added, the merchant shrugged.
“You have my condolences, but there’s no chance in hell you’ll get through those checkpoints.”
“There has to be another way to get there.” Saren asked, the merchant sighed.
“Well… one time the Earth Empire was trying to catch fugitives around the same route. My buddy got through but that was because he took the mountain route to the east.” I raised an eyebrow.
“He went to Ba Sing Se?”
“Yeah, and from there he took the train and got to Republic City. It’s an expensive plan, but I figure it’d work.” The man looked back to his friend and my gaze returned to Saren.
“Let’s hope your Crow friend has a better idea.” I nodded, sighing. I decided to look back to the merchant.
“Hey, um… could I ask you something?” the man turned, “Have you heard of a person called… ‘Crow’?” the man paused,
“We don’t talk about Crow.” Saren turned.
“Why not?”
“Crow’s just another rebel, leading Su Hiron’s local rebels against the strikers… making life harder for the ones of us who have to work for a living.”
“Oh… well I’m sure Crow doesn’t mean to put you guys in trouble.” I replied. The merchant sighed, “The strikers are bad news, after all.”
“Not so loud, they might have spies in here,” the man groaned, looking away, “To be honest some of us admire Crow and what she’s doing, but I couldn’t care less, and neither could my family… in fact some of us would rather collect that bounty on her head.”
“…” I sighed, while the only thing Saren had got from it was-
“Crow’s a girl?” From the corner of my eye I had noticed the cook re-approaching, setting down two plates on our table, Saren had a sort of fish-wrap(it had a face), while I had salmon-trout. I found myself disappointed that they gave me something with fish when I asked specifically for meat… but I figured complaining would get me nowhere.
“Yeah, an old friend.”
“Who is she, Angela?” Saren then asked, and I frowned. “Because I’ve met Angela”-
“No it’s not her, someone else… Angela’s still with the strikers, working in the firenation.”
“So no wonder you two broke up, long distance relationship”-
“It wasn’t like that,” I scowled, “It was kinda… one sided.” Saren raised an eyebrow, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fair enough.” He turned, looking back to the merchant who was now paying more attention to us, “So where do you think we can find this ‘Miss Crow’?”
“You don’t, she finds you… I’ve never even seen her before.” The other guy turned.
“I’ve seen her, she has this scar or something…”
“I heard that’s makeup, to make her look tough.”
“Well she’s certainly got my attention if you know what I mean.” The man chuckled, his friend sighed.
“Gross…” right about now Saren and I ended our conversation, returning to our food, when Saren glanced up, sniffing for some odd reason.
“Something wrong?”
“Someone’s entering I think it’s her”-
“Crow?”
“No, Hawk.” As he said that I looked out, noticing in the window were a couple guys, looked like they were the ones we saw at the docks of Su Hiron. Swiftly I released my food and got under the table, as did Saren (stuffing the rest of the wrap into his mouth and shutting it). We were hidden under the table cloth, peering through it to see Nikta stepping into the bar. We froze as everyone turned, as if recognizing a striker.
I used to have that kind of effect on people.
“We’re searching for someone,” she directed, “They escaped the ferry from the Water Tribe and swam, we found wet footprints leading here!” she yelled, “Does anyone have any information on a firenation boy, and a taller water tribe one, soggy wet? Should have entered maybe ten minutes ago!”
“I might know something.” A random earth kingdom patron replied, Nikta turned, “Give me five minutes of your time and I might spill it”- right then I watched as Nikta grabbed a nearby bottle, bashing it across the side of the man’s face. He fell to the ground with a bruise and damaged pride.
“Anyone who insists on wasting my time will be held accountable for their actions.” She then added, more of her men appeared inside the tavern, “Now where are they?”
I watched as she studied all of the patrons, stepping by some who looked similar to Saren and me, but weren’t the ones. Saren casually gripped his sword, unsure what to do.
“Can you get us out of here?” he whispered? I frowned.
“Maybe… I have an idea.” On a nearby table I saw a full bottle of ale. I eyed Nikta, making sure she wasn’t eying us, and then I grabbed the bottle, discovering it thankfully still was corked.
“Connor now’s not the time for that”- I rolled my eyes.
This would be easier if you could waterbend but…” Saren eyed me confused, while I breathed, focusing my chi to start cooking the water in the bottle.
“One has short spiky black hair, the other brown, I knew they were here!” Nikta directed, I frowned. The bottle began to cook, creating the equivalent of a smoke-bomb. Saren was mildly entertained, watching as I did this.
“You’ve done this before right?”
“No… didn’t need to before.” I frowned, watching as small bits of steam escape the cork of the bottle… I bent the steam downwards with my other hand, and finally I knew it was time to open it. “When I throw this, we make a bolt for the exit.” Saren nodded, and I removed the end of the bottle, tossing it away onto the floor. Nikta turned swiftly, seeing the bottle and the table we were at. It was too late, as steam shot out from the bottle, covering the room in a fermented mist. Saren and I bolted out, running past strikers, though that didn’t stop Nikta.
When we made it onto the street, Nikta followed us, running after us as her companions were disoriented. The two of us were running through the streets of Su Hiron, Nikta pulled her bow out, swiftly firing arrows towards us, arrows which we barely evaded. I used my firebending to help block, while Saren lead us through the random people we passed.
“So, we’re being chased by an old friend?”
“Yeah… you could say that.”
“I haven’t met her, so I assume she isn’t Crow.”
“Oh haha”- We took a swift turn into the market place, where Nikta stopped firing arrows and we ran through more and more people.
“Sorry, sorry… didn’t mean this, sorry!” Saren uttered, while I kept trying to get ahead. Saren seemed slower, which I figured would happen, he seemed to have a slight limp, as if he preferred a different leg then before. I paid little attention to him as we kept running, taking another swift turn and finding a fence with an opened door in front of it. I swiftly closed the door behind us, and kept running. As I looked back, Nikta swiftly jumped to one of the alley’s walls, kicking off and jumping onto the other one, reaching the fence and summersaulting over it.
Saren’s eyes grew massive, eying her.
“How did she do that?”
“It’s kinda her thing, she makes up not having bending for being the most capable member of the strikers, barring a few others.” She fired more arrows and I shot more stray shots of fire towards her.
“Connor stop this now!” she ordered,
“Leave us alone!” I added, managing to strike a hit towards her, throwing her back. We found ourselves at a dead end- Nikta stood there behind us, eying us while Saren fearfully held out the sword. Hawk didn’t even look at him.
“Stand down, both of you.” She ordered, “None of this is needed.” I frowned.
“You’re right, so leave us alone!”
“I have orders to bring you both back with me to Shaylim.” She replied, “Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.” Saren continued to hold the sword out, jabbing forward, Nikta easily sidestepped the blade, grabbing Saren’s arm and twisting it behind his back.
“Agh!”
“Let him go!”
“Silas said he wanted him, told me not to hurt him, but I don’t think a broken arm will be that difficult to mend!” Saren shook, eying me, while I scowled.
“LET THEM GO!” A sudden voice yelled. We both turned, looking up to see a figure standing on the roof top in a brown cloak. She looked almost specter-like in the fog. I recognized her voice, as did Saren it seemed. Nikta remained resilient, staring up at the character. Swiftly the rogue stamped down, and jumped off of the building, landing between myself and Saren, punching her fist down.
The ground underneath Nikta shot upwards wildly, the renegade also at that moment grabbed for Saren’s hand, pulling him away from Nikta’s grip as the archer fell away. This figure was shorter than the both of us… and looked like a woman. She released her grip on Saren and ran out of the alleyway, after Nikta. Saren paused.
“Okay… she kinda seems familiar”-
“Yes, she’s Crow.” I replied, to which Saren nodded. We followed after her, seeing Nikta standing there with her bow, flustered.
“Crow… it’s been a while,” Nikta replied, eyes on us.
“Get out of here Hawk, you can’t take the two of us on!” Saren pouted.
“Really, you couldn’t say three of us?” My friend ignored him.
“No, not yet…” Nikta replied, aiming an arrow towards us, as if ready to strike… instead of attacking however, she aimed downwards, “I’ll be seeing real soon, Naava.” The arrow shot directly to the ground, smoke dispersed from it, covering the already foggy in more mist, allowing Nikta to escape. Saren immediately seemed confused about the sudden companion.
“Wait… Naava?” he eyed her, “The girl who recruited you?” He eyed me, “That Naava?” I looked to Crow, watching as she ignored him and looked to me, pulling down her hood. Her eyes were a bright green color, meshing well with her messy shoulder length raven black hair. A thin and fading scar sat across her right cheek, and a curious look overtook her in eying me.
“Hey Naava… it’s been a while.” I found myself smiling a little, having not seen her face in five years. She stepped forward, quietly hugging me. I patted her shoulders, to be honest I missed her.
“It’s been too long, Connor.” Saren eyed us, somewhat confused. These two had met the night of our probending game against the “Tiger-Squirrels” the day Naava had tried recruiting me into the strikers. Needless to say, they did not hit it off rather well. Saren remained focused on her.
“Wait, I don’t understand, she left the strikers?” Naava sighed, releasing me.
“I’ll get you two somewhere safe, and then we can talk.”

ONE HOUR LATER
SAREN POV

Naava was very abrupt about getting us away from prying eyes. She told me to shush every time I asked something, she seemed hell bent on ignoring me. We found ourselves crossing through the main square three times until she was certain Nikta wasn’t following us, and took us to what appeared to be some old abandoned church on the edge of town. Inside there were some loose boards that revealed a hidden ladder going down.
She led us to what I assumed was some sort of secret underground base for that ‘rebellion’ she was heading. She seemed to have a rather small group, looking to consist of ten people… half of which were traitors to the strikers.
“Chun’s actually the original traitor,” her second in command had mentioned as he gave me a tour, “She left before Nishi mandated the tattoo policy.” Wait, did that mean Connor had a striker tattoo?
Apparently she was also some kind of princess in a sandbender tribe east of the republic… though I didn’t ask much about that. I did remember seeing her face in the newspaper a while back.
She looked really pretty in it.
After the tour I found myself in the dining room at the door, waiting while Connor and his old friend caught up on old times. It felt odd to see her again after only meeting her once at that probending game. I felt like I was walking into what felt more like Connor’s world… where I was a complete stranger despite our history. Though Naava’s clear mistrust towards me was apparent, I wondered if she’d actually help us.
“Yeah Aimee sent me a letter mentioning how you left, what happened?”
“It’s a long story, all I know is I left and I’m not going back.” He muttered, enjoying the free food he was given.
“Atta boy.”  She smiled, “Had to happen at some point.” She added, I noticed her cloak was gone, replaced only with a green sleeveless top, brown trousers, boots, and armbands. It worked well with her messy black hair.
“This is a nice operation you’re running,” Connor added, Naava nodded, arms crossed.
“Yeah, I got here like four months ago, these guys had no idea what they were doing, completely hopeless. I help out a few times and they begged me to be in charge.”
“Wow, that’s a quick promotion… what do you call yourselves?”
“We’re the Su Hiron Striker Resistance Cell.”
“A cell?”
“Yeah, lots of us everywhere, we don’t know about the other groups in order to protect them.” As prideful as Naava was, she did seem pretty good at this, barking orders and having her underlings obey. It seemed the only thing that didn’t listen to her around here was her pet messenger hawk named Ivan. The bird seemed at times rebellious and lazy and he did not seem to like Connor much at all.
“Kawh!” the hawk boasted on his perch, apparently there was a large looking alcove here that he could use to leave, otherwise he just perched on Naava’s shoulder. I found myself eying him, with a smile.
“So then,” Connor turned, “How’d you know we were in trouble?”
“I hear about everything happening in town, especially the bit about Nikta looking for you two.”
“Well thanks,” Connor replied, “We needed it.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured. So why are you two in the Earth Kingdom? I understand you got here from the North?”
“We did,” Connor replied, “I visited Saren at his apartment and then we got ambushed by the strikers, we’re both on the run now.”
“And with Hawk hunting you, no less.” I nodded, sitting down.
“Yeah, Connor said that you could help get us to Republic City”- Connor groaned at my sudden request while Naava’s head leaned towards the right, confused.
“What’s he talking about?” she asked, Connor sighed.
“When Saren and I got on the ferry, we decided we wanted to go to Republic City.” Naava turned,
“Of all the places, why there?” I frowned, wondering if Connor would just straight out say it was my idea (which it was) thankfully he refrained.
“It’s our home, we grew up there, figured we should return.”
“Well you picked a bad time,” Naava sighed, “Nobody can get to Republic City…” she referred to a nearby map, her hands traced from Su Hiron to a southeastern city bordering a massive body of water, “The closest way is to head south east to Angquin or west to Shaylim, and take a train to Republic City.” I knew where this was going, “But it’s impossible, the striker checkpoints are too strong, and they have too many spies… yesterday a lot of people that work with cells like ours disappeared.”
“So captured.” Connor sighed.
“It can’t be done, not unless you have an airship or are the avatar, which I know either of you aren’t.” I sighed, eying the map again and drawing closer,
“But this merchant guy we talked to,” I directed towards the East of Su Hiron, past a river and the Northern Air Temple, “He said there’s a route through the mountains, where you can get to Ba Sing Se?”
“Are you serious?” she eyed me like I was an idiot, “It’ll take weeks to get to Ba Sing Se on foot, maybe less if you catch a ride but even then there’s countless strikers in that city.”
“But it shouldn’t be as bad as Angquin or Shaylim, right?” I asked, irritating her.
“That’s beside the point, it’ll take too long and be too dangerous.”
“Sounds pretty good to me.” Connor then added, Naava turned. “I had a few missions in the north-eastern earth kingdom, there’s a lot less striker activity there, and it’ll be difficult for them to follow us.”
“You two are crazy…” she sighed, Connor turned.
“Be crazy with us, we’re gonna need an earthbender to get through the mountains”-
“No,” she replied simply, “I can’t afford to waste my time trekking through the Earth Kingdom, I have duties here… and no reason to help you two” Connor frowned, looking away, while I turned.
“The strikers aren’t just after Connor, they’re after me, and I have no idea why.” Naava curled her head to the side, “We’re the reason that these checkpoints have been set up”- She didn’t believe that.
“Connor can you vouch for this lunacy?” Connor sighed, turning to her.
“Actually… when we were getting attacked in the North, they said Saren wasn’t to be hurt, that they were ordered to by ‘dragon’.” Naava paused, eying Connor and myself with confusion. Color seemed to have drained from her cheeks.
“I take it it’s not the first time you’ve heard about him.” I stated, Naava nodded.
“I never met him, but he was Nishi’s benefactor. Never actually got a name,” Connor sighed, looking away, unsurely. “He’s the one in charge now, trying to hunt traitors like us down… brought back purging.” Connor turned, “So he wants you?” she asked me.
“It seems so.” I paused, “I don’t know how, but I’m sure if you help us we can figure out what his game is, the fact that Nikta’s after us should be enough for you.”
“…” she looked away, “The answer’s still no, I can’t afford to stop the progress I’ve made in Su Hiron”-
“Naava if we don’t figure this out, there might not be a Su Hiron”-
“I said no.” she turned. “And honestly, you two are putting us in danger,” I crossed my arms. “You can stay for the night, and I’ll show you around town, and get you started off, but after that I can’t afford to hold onto you.” I frowned, wanting to contest this, while Connor simply nodded, respectfully. “I’m sorry if you expected more.”
“It’s alright, Crow.” She nodded.

THE NEXT DAY
NIKTA POV

I was angry at myself for losing them, I thought it would have been so easy. I had my men continuing to search through town, to no avail. The townspeople seemed bitter about what I was doing, but I couldn’t care less. I came here with a job to do, and I was going to fulfill it.
Yesterday I had tried following Naava and her companions, but she seemed to specifically lead them around, and lose me. She was getting too good at this.
My men continued going from building to building, checking for any signs of them. We had also started putting down wanted posters for them. Finally a group of my men brought someone towards me, it looked like the cook in the tavern we were in.
“Yes?”
“This guy has something interesting to say.” The cook nodded.
“Every day this messenger bird barring this black on green moon insignia hassles me for food, yesterday the bird left before your men entered my tavern… this time a girl with a scarf gave him a note, telling him to ‘go back to Momma’ or somethin’.” I nodded, he clearly knew nothing about the insignia.
The Chun Tribe’s insignia. This meant “Naava Chun” was the bird’s owner.
“Do you know where this bird goes?”
“I’ve seen him usually fly away and hang around in the South Western side of town, his master spends a lot of time there… one time I think I saw her come out of the old abandoned church.”
“…” I nodded, looking away, “Thank you, you’ll be given the bounty if we find them” The man nodded, walking away I looked to my men. “There’s been a change of plans… we are catching these traitors today.”

NAAVA POV

Town looked lively today, with less strikers wandering around and looking for us. The only change I noticed were the addition of wanted posters (which I typically removed when nobody was looking). Su Hiron was well currently, though I couldn’t shake a nervous feeling with Connor and his friend beside me. They both were packed and ready to go, though the waterbender stuck out like a sore thumb with his sword out. Sure I stood out with a messenger hawk on my shoulder, but at least I was earth kingdom and belonged here.
For roughly two hours we had gone to some shops I knew to buy them equipment they’d need for their journey. Naturally it came out of my pocket, but I just wanted Connor to be safe. We had purchased camping equipment, metal rods for cooking over a fire, a week’s supply of food, a map and other supplies they’d need. We were actually getting pretty close to done.
“So I take it by now you know everything about this town.” Connor asked, I nodded.
“I know a bit,” I stepped past a couple, “It was founded over two-hundred years ago, around the time of Chin the Great’s conquest, it was used as a trading route with the Northern Water Tribe, this place used to be a lot more important.”
“What brought you here?” Connor’s friend asked, I turned.
“It was more random, striker patrols were chasing me and I came across the old church, from there I carved the tunnel out and stayed there with Ivan.” My bird cooed slightly at the sound of his name.
“Ivan… so that’s his name.” Connor replied, the bird dead-eyed him, for some reason not liking him at all. “Why’d you get him?”
“After what happened in the Shen Jing, I decided I needed a way to keep in contact with my friends and family.”
“I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get a letter.” He shrugged, while his friend turned.
“If it makes you feel any better, Naava didn’t send me a letter either”- I turned.
“What’s your name again?” I asked, irritating him. We paused at a fountain in the center of town, looking to see more strikers snooping around… I leaned to the fountain, watching them walk away.
“Looks like Nikta hasn’t given up yet.” The friend muttered, to which I rolled my eyes.
“Observant as always.” He pouted, causing me to smirk. Something about that look on his face brought me joy. We found our way towards the store the strikers were looking through, a leather-working shop. I nodded to Connor, “You might need some pouches, I know this guy, he’ll give us a great deal.”
“Sounds great.” Saren replied as we entered the shop, I stopped him quickly.
“No, you need to stay out here.” The taller boy eyed me at that, confused.
“What, I don’t have enough striker cred to enter the store?”
“Don’t be an idiot,” I replied, “Someone needs to keep watch incase those guys come back… and I need someone to watch Ivan,” My bird casually flew onto Saren’s shoulder, surprising him, “Last time I brought him in he ruined a lot of stuff… owner started a whole ‘not pets’ policy afterwards.”
“But”-
“Saren, just as she says, she knows this place better.” Connor replied, disappointing his friend.
“Yeah, listen to Connor for once,” I gloated, “We’ll be sure to get you something to play with, maybe a toy sword, be easier learning to use one of those.” That irked him so much, causing him to remain glued to the outside of the store while Connor remained focused on me, annoyed. We entered the shop, finding a man standing behind a cash register, a variety of leather-made creations covered the room, from weaponry holsters to satchels, clothing and more. I liked this place, felt homey.
“Hey Vaan.” The man smiled from behind the register, calling me by the fake name I told everyone apart from my cell.
“Mosby, we’ll just be looking around.” He nodded, while Connor focused, articulating what was on his mind now that we were inside and far enough to avoid an earshot.
“Something tells me Saren is outside for more than just keeping a lookout.” I turned at that.
“Why are you travelling with him?”
“Because he’s my best friend and he needs me.”
“Does he? He seems to have been getting along fine with you for the past five years.” He scowled, “how do you even know you can trust him? I still can’t believe he just ‘wants to go to Republic City’.”
“I want to go to, I didn’t ask what his reason was, and I’d take him either way.” I turned,
“Would he do the same for you?” Connor frowned, “I know you’re attached to him, but… maybe you shouldn’t be.”
“What are you saying?”
“That instead of wasting your time on a quest to Republic City, you can stay here, and help me.” His eyes widened.
“You can’t be serious”-
“I am… I saw you fight, you’re still the toughest guy I know, and you could really be useful to us. You can use the skills you learned in the Strikers to fight back against them. Help us get rid of them.”
“You want me to turn my back on Saren, to help you go after gangsters?”
“To help me protect people.” Connor looked away.
“I can’t do that… I’m not ditching Saren”-
“Why, because he’s your best friend”- he caught me off.
“No, because I owe him.” I paused, Connor looked away, eying the leatherwork and grabbing a satchel. “I just showed up out of the blue at his apartment… that was two days ago, and now he’s stuck here with me and he can’t go home…” I turned at that. “I can’t abandon him, not after what I just pulled in the Water Tribe.”
“I didn’t realize”-
“That he hasn’t been through a lot too?” Connor then asked, irritated, “I know he was mean to you five years ago, but”-
“That has nothing to do with this!” I spoke back rather abruptly, maybe too quickly. “But… go on?”
“But no matter what I and you were going through, it hasn’t been easy for him, and worst he went through it all alone.”
“What did he go through?” I asked, Connor looked away.
“He still doesn’t have his bending back.” I turned, “I don’t know why, the Avatar did her thing but… nothing.”
“He’s not a waterbender anymore?”
“No… that’s why he went to the North Pole to begin with, to escape everything… until I came crashing back into his life.” I looked away, I couldn’t help but find myself frowning, imagining what it would have been like if I didn’t have my earthbending.
I just couldn’t.
“So yeah, I need to help him. I’m the only one who can.”
“…I’m sorry.” I replied, Connor looked away, “I’ll try to treat him like a person.”
“Thank you.” Connor replied, smiling a little. “Don’t you ever try to talk me out of abandoning my friends ever again, or it’s gonna be you I abandon… Crow.” He threatened almost jovially, and I nodded silently.
He was loyal, that was the trait I liked most about him.
“Are you two gonna buy anything?” Mosby asked. Connor seemed attached to the pouch and I nodded to him. I noticed something else, one of the weapon holsters, included a scabbard that was the exact size of Saren’s sword. I grabbed for it.
If Saren was leaving, I might as well leave him a peace offering.

SAREN POV

I heard the entire thing from outside of the store, to be honest I almost figured Connor was going to ditch me… though it did make me feel happy to know he wasn’t going anywhere. I felt a little guilty, knowing that I was keeping the knowledge of my dad’s death from him. But… I didn’t want to include him, it was too personal. I was still disappointed Naava was bent on not going with us… despite the rude comments I was kind of attached to her.
I also liked the bird, who thankfully wasn’t ruining my jacket.
“Kawh!”
“I know… just one of those days.” I found myself peering forward, looking to see someone standing there and staring at me. He was a striker, approaching me.  I pointed my sword forward, hands shaking.
“Relax, Mr. Namakura, I’m not here to pick a fight.” I paused, “This is between Hawk and Crow.” He then held something out, a piece of paper. “Deliver it to her, Hawk will be waiting.” I took the paper, eying it, and then the striker ran away.
It left me confused, eying the parchment, and as I read it, I froze. I swiftly turned, walking directly into the leather shop, finding Connor and Naava were paying upfront when they turned to me. The shopkeeper shook angrily.
“GET THAT BIRD OUT OF HERE!”
“KAWH!” Ivan retorted defiantly. Connor and Naava eyed me like I was crazy.
“Saren we were just about done, why”- I stepped past Connor, handing the paper to Naava. She took it, confused.
“This guy handed it to me, said to”-
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Naava replied, reading it, much like at the mention of ‘dragon,’ all color left her cheeks.
“What?” Connor then asked, Naava turned.
“This says surrender yourself to me at the church in one hour, or they die.” Connor’s eyes widened, “Nikta signed it.”

CONNOR POV

We had found ourselves hurrying out of the leather shop, taking what we bought and pacing down the street. There was no point in discussing this inside the shop… not to mention the shopkeeper was royally pissed about the bird (which still clung to Saren’s shoulder). Saren spoke first.
“Okay, why are we all being silent?” Naava blinked heavily, “Shouldn’t we be discussing or”-
“How did Nikta find us?” the first thing she asked, the bird looked away, uninterested. “We went out of our way to make sure nobody followed us, she couldn’t have”-
“How do we even know Nikta’s not bluffing?” I asked, “Could just be a trick”-
“Then why would she mention the church in her note?” Naava asked back, “She caught them, probably after we left, wanting to draw me out to her.”
“I didn’t realize she could be that devious.” I stated.
“She did worse things for Abhik.” Naava scowled, “And now she wants me to hand myself over, or else my crew dies…”
“We’re not going to hand you over, right?” Saren asked, “I’m sure we could find some way, or…”
“No… I know Nikta, she’s probably planning for you two to come along and help… it’s a trap to catch all three of us.”
“So what do we do?” I asked, Naava turned.
“You guys need to get out of here, go east, get away from this place, take Ivan and go.” She directed, the bird on Saren’s shoulder nodded his head awkwardly. “I’ll be fine, but”-
“Why does Nikta want you so badly?” Saren then asked, Naava turned.
“Because it could be considered that my departure started the dark age of the strikers,” Connor looked away. “She’d probably blame me for all that’s happened.”
“That’s crazy”-
“No… that’s pretty much how she sees it.” I muttered. Naava turned, “We’re not just gonna abandon you.”
“I can’t let you two getting caught be on my conscience.” She replied, turning away. “I’m sorry.” She stepped away, towards the direction of the church, I followed her, annoyed. My hand caught her shoulder, stopping her.
“You said I was the best fighter you knew, I can help and you know I can”-
“You just spent five minutes berating me on telling you to abandon Saren… if you really owe him, than you can’t afford losing him.” she looked away, “Goodbye Connor.” Quickly she stamped down, rock rose up as she skidded away, frantic and afraid… not a good combination.
“Naava!” I yelled out, but she was gone. I sighed, standing there alone when I saw Saren stepping behind me, having listened in.
“We’re not gonna do as she says, are we?”
“No, we’re not.” I replied.

NAAVA POV

I finally reached the church, expecting to find Nikta and her strikers outside, the courtyard was barren of life, plant and human alike.
Stepping inside the murky old church I saw someone sitting in one of the pews, looking up at the statue of a spirit, known as Chron, the spirit of time… she seemed deep in meditation. A quiver rested on her back, with arrows peeking out. I paced forward, she looked back to me. It was the same old Nikta I recognized, though she looked colder.
“I wondered if he’d find you, it’d be boring if you never showed up.”
“Where are they?” I asked, frowning,
“I was always a little interested in seeing what spirits other cultures prayed to.” She ignored, “In the South, we prayed to Tui, La, Sukh, and Kesh… ocean, moon, spirit and soul. Kind of boring, it’s a little more ironic that your people prayed to time, likely wanting a bountiful harvest.”
“Where are my friends?”
“It’s ironic because of how poor time has been to your people, the death of the earth queen, Kuvira’s reign, failure to take back the republic… and now it’s almost like pieces of twine are holding it together.” She stood up, “Much like your crew.” I scowled, “You were barely holding them together.”
“Where are they?”
“They’re fine, my men are looking after them down below us… prepared to kill them if something happens.” I scowled, “And I see you didn’t bring Ghost and his friend, too bad.” Nikta paced towards me.
“I’m here, so let them go.”
“I think not… I think those traitors ought to be taken to Shaylim to face punishment.” I scowled,
“So what then, gonna execute me in Shaylim then? Make me a martyr?” Nikta smirked,
“Now what was that spirit your sandbender-tribe prayed to? Kassin Etioh…”-
“Keshon Arteoh.” I replied, Nikta quietly nodded.
“And where is he now?” With a sudden slip of her wrist, the bow she was holding flexed and a sudden arrow shot forth, I kicked down, pulling up a tile from the ruined floor to quickly catch the arrow and bring it to the ground. “It’s good you’re fighting, Crow. It’d be boring if you didn’t.” I scowled.
“I aim to please, Hawk.”

SAREN POV

We reached the church, peering inside to see Naava fighting Nikta, I was impressed to watch as she evaded more of her arrows.
“I don’t get it, how does Nikta assume to be able to take on all three of us alone?” Connor shrugged.
“I don’t know… but we better get in there and”- I caught Connor’s shoulder.
“That’s not a good plan, Naava’s holding her off pretty well. We need to help her crew.” he nodded,
“But I don’t see any of Nikta’s men or hostages around here.” I turned.
“They must be in the base, underground.”
“Great…” Connor replied. “And if the only entrance is through there, and we’re not earthbenders, how are we gonna”- at random Ivan pushed off of my shoulder, flying away randomly. “What’s he doing?”
“Ivan?” I asked, watching as the bird flew down the hill, reaching what appeared to be a stream of water, he picked at it with sudden confusion. As Connor and I approached, saw a hole in the ground. Ivan vanished into the small hole. We realized it was his way into the base.
“Hell of a secret passage.” Connor muttered, “Though a little slim for my liking.” I gripped my sword, looking down. “Saren?”
“I have an idea.” I found myself crouching beside the hole, stabbing the sword down into it, using it as a makeshift shovel and opening it more thoroughly. “The opening is thin, but it looks more hollowed out deeper inside… it wouldn’t make sense if Ivan didn’t have any room to fly out of if it was all as thick as this hole.” Connor smiled, eying me.
“Saren, you genius.” I grinned. As I finished, Connor swiftly lowered into the hole, going down it while I followed. We slid down covered in dirt until we found ourselves inside the cave Naava created, Ivan was on his perch, comfortable. We heard chatter down the hallway, and slowly walked through, discovering in the dining room was all of Naava’s cell, tied up with roughly ten strikers standing around them, telling them to shut up… they looked especially bored.
“Great, how are we gonna help them?” Connor smiled, cracking his knuckles.
“Saren, leave that to me.”

NIKTA POV

I shot another arrow towards Crow as she evaded, pulling up more rock to protect her and throw towards me. She seemed to have gotten slower since the last time I saw her fight.
“I don’t get it!” she yelled, avoiding more arrows, “After everything that happened, after Abhik being put in prison, why are you still killing for him!?”
“I’m not killing for him.” I replied, “I’m killing for someone who’s worth it.” More arrows fired out, but she evaded, throwing tiles towards me in rapid succession, I avoided one and kicked off of another to jump behind cover. She pulled up more rock, tearing up the floor to try and pull me out of cover, a rock hit and I fell back, finding a piece of it hit my lip, I tasted blood.
“What happened to Kimi? Our friend? Is she standing behind this too?”
“No… and that’s for the best.” I snarled, shooting more arrows at her. I managed to cut through the tiles she used to block it, and hitting her wrist brace, tearing it and making a sharp cut. She winced in pain.
“You know you deserve this, for what you did”-
“For what…” she sighed, “Doing what you were too afraid to do?” I scowled heavily, firing more arrows towards her, which she evaded, jumping behind the pews… outmatched.

CONNOR POV

Time practically slowed down for me as I stepped into the room, Naava’s underlings eying me confused, while Saren kept to the door. I glanced towards the strikers, studying each of them, the way they moved, the elements they bent, whatever weapons they held. I couldn’t pull this stunt on Nikta because she wasn’t as mediocre as they were, but I definitely could on them.
I saw two firebenders, but one looked like he had recently fractured his wrist, the other was right hand dominant. Three earthbenders also stood there, one held a machete, another had a bandaged up arm. And the third had a slight limp on his right leg. There were two waterbenders, one who appeared to be drunk, and another who wore sunglasses, thinking it made him look cool. Finally there were three nonbenders, one who used knives, another with swords, and a third with a wooden pole.
I took in this information slowly, as they eyed me, confused.
“Isn’t that the”- I rushed forward, blasting two shots towards the earthbender with a limp, tripping him into his friends. While from the firebenders one created daggers of flames, and the other blasted a long range shot towards me. I deflected the blow, reaching the right hand dominant one and evading, and catching his left hand as it loomed past my brow, quickly throwing him right into the waterbenders. The long range firebender attempted to hit me again, but instead I ducked under the blow, punching my hand forward into his fractured wrist, causing the man to scream and fall to the ground.
The drunk waterbender fired icicles towards me, to which I jumped way, under the table, and immediately pushed upwards, the table shot up hit the waterbender with the sunglasses. From the corner of my eye I watched as Saren freed Naava’s people.
The man with the pole made a shot towards me, but I ducked under it, gripping a plate that was still in the air from the table and immediately blasting it into the man’s face, shattering the fine china Naava probably stole (just a guess). The earthbenders teamed up, both gripping the wall of the base, intending to bring it all crashing down. I kicked off of the table, crashing forward and thrusting my fist into the face of one earthbender, and then kicking down the other, catching his machete and throwing it right at the nonbender with knives (who was throwing them). I blasted a shot of fire towards the Earthbender’s bandaged arm, it caught on fire and I quickly crashed my foot across the sunglass wearing waterender’s face, shattering his specks. By now we had managed to free all of the prisoners, and they joined into the fight.  I smiled, before turning as the nonbender with swords slashed towards me, about to hit, when suddenly Saren’s sword appeared out of nowhere, blocking it and throwing the guy off balance. I regained my balance, etching forward and smacking the man right into the dirt wall.
“Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it…” Saren replied, excited that we were winning.

NAAVA POV

“Get out of cover Crow,” Nikta threatened, “you can’t hide forever.” She replied, firing another arrow, I froze as it crashed right through wood, splinting so close to my face. She was about to fire another one, and I grimaced, quickly pulling up more rock, and swiftly firing it towards her at a blind angle, it didn’t hit, and instead she got around the pew, arrow directly facing me. “Maybe if I shoot you in the leg, you won’t be able to run away again.” I swiftly pulled towards myself with a kick, suddenly the statue of Chron tumbled towards us, Nikta turned, surprised while I jumped out of the way, she meanwhile got blasted into the wall, bruised.
I heaved silently, eying her, having the upper hand.
“I’m not running away anymore.” I replied, looking down at her. “I did my fighting, I don’t owe you anything.” Nikta was irate, that I had won.
“Aren’t you gonna kill me?”
“No… of all thethings I wish upon you, death isn’t one of them.”
“Ronin’s right… you really are a fool.”
“Ronin?” From my confusion, a sudden pull from her quiver went right towards me, some arrow I wasn’t familiar with. It managed to hit me, and suddenly I felt like all my senses were on fire, as if lit by a sudden jolt of electricity. “AGH!” I screamed, hitting the ground, smoke rising. Nikta got up, smiling.
“It’s funny… I only brought one.” She smiled, “Because only Namakura was requested to be brought back alive, you and Ghost are completely expendable.”
“Namakura…” I muttered, she grinned, “Why does he want… him?”
“I don’t know to be honest… he said it’s personal.” Nikta aimed another arrow towards me, directly towards my face, “Exactly like this is... Crow.”
I huffed, closing my eyes… accepting what would come next.
But instead of that, something shot towards the arrow, making it freeze suddenly. Nikta turned, confused, as if she recognized someone.
“What are you”- and suddenly a tendril of ice caught her, throwing her away, towards the pews. She tried to get back up, but collapsed again, fully beaten. A wave of confusion took me, when I then saw her.
She was a girl, a few years younger than me, with a softest looking eyes I had ever seen, a blue scarf covered her neck, and I froze.
I hadn’t seen this girl in over six months.
“K-Kokoro?” she smiled, eying me.
“Hey there, Naava.” She replied, bending water towards me, “Need some help?”
I smiled a little.

FIVE MINUTES LATER
SAREN POV

We had managed to secure Naava’s friends, we all found ourselves climbing up the ladder, hoping beyond hope that Naava had won. The only one who wasn’t curious was Ivan, who continued to perch on my shoulder.
To our surprise, she was sitting there in one of the pews, among the new wreckage of the church.
“You’re okay!”
“And I thought I told you to leave.” Naava replied, not angry in the least, Ivan jumped off of my shoulder, perching back on Naava’s… happy that the crisis was over.
“Well… as loyal as I am to Saren, I guess I’m also loyal to you.” Naava smiled to Connor’s compliment. “Though we wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without Saren.” I couldn’t help but smile, as did Naava. She looked thankful.
“Where’s Nikta?” I asked.
“She got away.” Naava replied, sighing, “When I had her beat, she bolted for it… I let her go.” She explained. For the next twenty minutes Connor and I stepped out of the church as Naava became re-acquainted with her cell. It seemed like she had a lot on her mind.
“So they’ll definitely have to move their base.” Connor began, “It’s not safe here.”
“I know, especially if some random kind finds that hole.” I nodded.
“So then, if she’s not coming with us, what do we do?”
“I dunno… I was serious when I said we needed an earthbender, I guess we’ll improvise somehow.” From the church, Naava stepped out of it, this time with a backpack much like ours. Ivan was settled on top of it. “You going on a trip or something?”
“I suppose,” Naava replied, “Been thinking about Republic City, heading on the eastern path.” We were speechless.
“I thought you said”-
“So did I… but, it seems to be the better choice.” She replied, “After fighting Nikta, it made me realize how much danger these guys are in if I’m still around. And the fact that she’s hunting them means one really must be important somehow.” I smiled a little, “I’ll get you there, you can count on me.” Connor smiled, shaking her hand wand welcoming her aboard, she looked to me. “Just make sure you can count on yourself.” I sighed.
“I thought Connor said you’d be nicer to me.” Connor smirked.
“So you were eavesdropping.” Naava nodded as well, she handed me something, a strange piece of leather.
“What’s that?”
“Something I bought, figuring to leave as a parting gift.” She explained, “It’s a scabbard, for you to use with that sword.” My eyes widened, “Maybe on the way I can actually teach you to use that thing.”
“Thank you.” I replied, grabbing the leatherwork and pausing as my hands touched hers. For the slightest moment a hint of a reddening took our cheeks as she looked away.
“Well come on, we better get out of here soon, more strikers are bound to show up.” I nodded, quietly putting my sword into the scabbard, finding it was a perfect fit. The three of us discovered a path and started east… our trio was complete, and as Su Hiron became a distant memory behind us, I smiled a little, looking to the world ahead.

TWO HOURS LATER

The man known as Silas remained in his quarters, studying the candle as it glimmered. It seemed to be all he could do, to remain calm and collected. He once had a very rash past, something he had grown out of… though that personality did sometimes seep to the surface. His focus remained glued to the candle, when a man came, holding a phone strapped to a radio.
“Sir, it’s for you… it’s Hawk.” Silas turned, studying them before taking the phone… hearing Nikta’s heavy breathing on the end. Her urgency worried him.
“Hawk, what’s wrong?”
“I failed, they escaped Su Hiron.”
“What?”
“I let my confidence get to me… it won’t happen again.”
“I’ll trust it won’t, has anything changed?”
“They’re heading to Ba Sing Se, all three of them.”
“Three?”
“Crow is among their number now,” Silas did not seem one bit irritated by this, he seemed curious actually.
“You’re telling me the Chun Princess is with them? I’ve heard she has quite the reputation… she may be a problem.”
“There’s a fourth, a girl who’s following them… Tanya’s other daughter, Kokoro… another traitor. She convinced Crow to come along.”
“Interesting… clearly Javik has sent her to safeguard them.”
“What do I do? I could follow after them and”-
“No, they’ll expect it. We can prepare for their arrival in Ba Sing Se… In two days I need you in to rendezvous with someone in Republic City… Victoria.”
“But”-
“Do not argue with me, she’ll be useful to you…”
“I’ll return as fast as I can.”
“Good… don’t be disappointed by today’s outcome.” She paused. “This was only the beginning.” He pledged, ending the call. He turned, eyes gazing towards the men with the radio.
“Sir?” Silas heaved, looking away.
“In four hours order the purging in Hawk’s last known coordinates… it’s time we set an example.”
“For Hawk or Su Hiron?” Silas receded back into the darkness.
“Both.”