Kimiko curled up in a chair on the deck of the boat, trying to focus on the assignments the school she was supposed to transfer into had sent her--not that there was much of a point, the school being in Omashu and probably non-existent now, but it was something to do that didn't involve staring at the creepy ocean.

Yí Xīn had climbed atop the cabin and now lay there, buried under a couple of blankets and staring up at the sky, watching his breath steam in the air.  After awhile, he said, “Hey… Kimiko?”

"What?" ...Hopefully that didn't sound as nervous as I think it sounded.

A pause, and then, “…I wanted to apologise.”

"What for?" she asked, looking up at him, bewildered.

“For lying to you earlier.”

Maybe it was the cold, or the general inexplicable nervousness this place inspired, but it took her a minute to remember what he was talking about. "No problem," she said, after blinking confusedly for a few seconds.

Silence fell again, save for rustling as Yí Xīn burrowed further into his blankets.

"…Do you know anything about chemistry?" she asked after another moment.

“…not much that I remember,” he admitted, sitting up.  “I’ll pop down and take a—”

At that point, what sounded like a gunshot rang out over the water.  Yí Xīn looked surprised as blood and metal flew out of his body, then he fell from the cabin to the deck.  Kimiko screamed and got up and ran to him. Another shot rang out and she fell, halfway there, blood pouring from her thigh. Determined to make sure her friend was all right, she kept trying to crawl towards him.

“Kimiko!”

A surge of adrenaline flooded through Yí Xīn, and he scrambled to his feet, scooping her up in his arms and throwing both of them over the rail.  A third shot grazed his neck as they plunged toward the water.

Kimiko yelped a bit, partly from pain and partly from panic, when they hit the water. Seconds after they did, there was a second splash--whoever the shooter was, he was apparently intent on chasing them.

Yí Xīn surfaced quickly, still holding onto the younger girl; breathing heavily, he began to drag them both to the shore, leaving a crimson trail.

Some vague sense of rationality returned, and Kimiko tried to do her best to help them get there.

Behind them, a lean, dark-haired man was cutting cleanly through the water, gaining fast.

A fourth and fifth shot split the air; they didn’t come from their pursuer, but rather from the shore.  Risking a glance, the mechanic saw Shí crouched behind a barrel, a handgun turned on the dark-haired man.

At least one of the shots connected, judging by the sudden redness in the water around him. Perhaps surprisingly, he broke off the pursuit, turning and swimming off in a different direction. Moments later, there was a sharp cracking noise, and then a deafening explosion, and the boat was so much smoking rubble.

Shí pulled Kimiko and Yí Xīn from the water.  On seeing how badly both of them were bleeding, she used words that would make a sailor blush and stripped Yí Xīn’s bloody coat off of him even as she pushed both of them towards a building for cover.  “Bandage him and yourself!” she snapped at the younger girl, reloading her gun.  “I’ll pin him down.”

She nodded, and tore up the coat to do what she could to stop Yí Xīn’s bleeding.

“We’re gonna need,” said a gasping Yí Xīn, “another boat.”

“That’s right,” Shí replied.  “You just lie there and make Unagi references.”  She was standing to the side of one of the windows, keeping an eye out for the dark-haired man.

Wherever he was, he wasn't visible to the soldier.

"Hold still," Kimiko was saying, trying to plug the bleeding hole in his chest with his coat.

“This is bad,” Shí muttered.  “I know that bastard.  He’s with the Avatar.”

"...We have to find the others and get out of here. D'you think that Kody's found his thing yet?" Kimiko asked, worried.

“We’d better hope he has.  Xīn!  Can you walk?”

“Y-yeah,” the young man said, rising to his feet and using a long strip of cloth to bind the pads to his chest and back.  “I’ll try to get us another boat.”

“Kimiko!”  Shí tossed her handgun at the girl.

She caught it. "What do you need me to do?"

“Go with him.  If that bastard finds you again, use the gun.”  Her blue eyes were dark.  “Don’t feel bad about it.  He’s a killer and won’t think twice about offing you and Xīn.”

The younger girl nodded once. "Right. Got it." She pushed herself to her feet as well and limped off after Yí Xīn.

Shí watched them go, then slipped out of the building to try and find Kody and Yĭng.

 

*                       *                       *

 

The air around the false oasis was one of stillness. The only people around were a few custodians and two people sitting on a park bench right outside. These people had decided that they were entitled to a brief rest, since they doubted the super special mystical amulet of awesome was going anywhere anytime soon.

Kody and Yĭng let out a sigh in unison.

"I s'pose you'd better get on with the politicking," said Kody, sounding bored.

"I am," she muttered. leaning back with her eyes closed. "I'm plotting strategy."

"Ah, yes, of course," he replied, leaning back. "Keep up the good work."

Yĭng  sighed again, and twisted a (free) tourist guide idly in her hands.

"I don't know how these people can live here," said Kody, breaking the silence. "It's just too… quiet."

"It's too cold is what it is," she replied.

Kody looked her over. She was clad in several layers of thick coat that had been stored on the boat. Kody, by contrast, was wearing an old t-shirt and a pair of shabby slacks. He shrugged.  "Not bothering me."

"You realize this is the first time I've seen snow? Ever? Shut up."

"Snow's nothing special."

"It's cold is what it is."

Kody gave a brief, disdainful chuckle. His breath was visible as he did so.

She shivered and glared at him. "I grew up in a freaking volcano. Cut me some slack."

"Never."

She muttered something rude under her breath about now and ice and her deep desire to shove it somewhere unspeakable.

Cold did not make her happy, and it made it hard for her to think, which would make it harder for her to talk the chief into letting them into the real oasis.

A pretty woman with long brown hair drifted into the false oasis, talking softly with one of the custodians before wandering to the water and looking pensively in.  Kody eyed the woman somewhat suspiciously. She was really pretty.

Yĭng continued staring broodingly at her gloved hands, trying to work out what she was going to do and how not to lose her temper from sheer misery and freezing.

Kody directed his gaze back to Yĭng, then briefly to the woman. "We should go," he said.

"Right," she said, and got up off the bench. "Let's do this."

Kody gently but firmly took Yĭng by the hand and began to casually exit the area.

They passed by the woman, and everything suddenly went to hell.  Without even a shifting of weight to broadcast intent, she spun unexpectedly; one leg came up and a punishing heel drove directly into Yĭng’s solar plexus.

The younger woman made a sort of choked wheezing grunt and dropped.  Quick as lightning, Kody got between the woman and Yĭng and threw an uppercut.  The woman was already moving, stepping out of Kody’s reach and jerking to one side before closing in with him and throwing a punch of her own.

Kody didn't even attempt to block the punch; the woman was too quick. But he didn't flinch from the blow; he quickly countered in turn.  She ducked under his throw and crouched, then spun, scything her leg underneath both of his and attempting to throw him onto his back.

The woman was fast, but Kody was a veteran of many a back-alley brawl and knew all the dirty tricks. He hopped over the incoming strike, and delivered heavy kick as he did so.  He only managed to graze her, however; she’d started to roll away as he avoided her attack.

Kody did not hesitate. He picked Ying up bodily, threw her over his shoulder and hauled ass in the opposite direction.  The woman gave chase, pausing only to throw aside one of the onlookers who tried to stop her.

Kody was heading not toward the exit, but deeper into the faux-asis, where there were a great many decorative pools. He had a bit of a lead on his pursuing, but not much. He quickly set Ying gently down in a corner and pulled a large billboard in front of her. "Stay here," he whispered, "and keep quiet."

She nodded, closing her eyes and trying to get her breath back.

He then darted back out, this time walking toward the quick woman. At a leisurely pace, even.  She didn’t stop her charge, driving towards him.  "For making me have to do this," Kody snarled to himself, "I am going to kick your ass extra hard."

He stomped hard with a booted foot, and a large ridge of ice sprouted up right before the woman's feet.  She didn’t seem too surprised even as she tripped; her body twisted in the air and she landed on her hands, then pushed off and landed on her feet and lunged for Kody.

The delay it granted Kody was enough for him to pop the cork off one of his flagons- with a thrust of his arm, a jet of water rocketed straight out of it and struck the woman like a punch in the chest.

A particularly heavy punch in the chest; it threw her back like a rag doll.  However, she was already reacting to the blow, rolling in midair and landing in a crouch.  She didn’t spring immediately to the attack, instead watching the waterbender with wary green eyes.

"Care to try anything else fancy, bitch?" said Kody. "I don't suppose leaving us alone is an option, so I won't insult you by asking. What do you want, so I can not give it to you?"

She smiled slightly.  “I want you,” she replied.  “Six feet under.”

"Ooh," said Kody, putting on an impressed air. "That's a good one. Give me a moment, I'd like to write it down. Got a pen I could borrow, by chance?"

Instead, the brunette lunged again, charging for him.  In the space of a heartbeat, Kody summoned water from the surrounding pools to him. It flew to his hands and stuck, forming what looked like amorphous wings around his forearms.

He swung the right one in a wide arc like a whip.  The women leapt in response, arcing her body over the water whip and plunging towards him.  The left one followed quickly after from the opposite direction, and twice as hard at that.  Impossibly, she twisted hard and managed to avoid the second blow as well, landing to Kody’s side rather than on top of him as a result.

She immediately sprang away,  twisting again and landing in the branches of a tree, watching Kody.  Kody looked up at her, staring indignantly.

Then he began to applaud. Slowly.

She cocked her head to the side and said nothing.

"This has been fun, really," said Kody. "But honestly, I've really got better things to do."

“I’m certain,” she answered.

"Let me put this in terms you'll understand. You go bye-bye now."

“No, I don’t think so,” she said, dropping from the tree.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Kody, "did I give you the impression that I was giving you a choice?"

It was then that the woman noticed that Kody was sweating slightly, as if in concentration.  Groaning as if lifting something heavy, he slowly raised his arms to the sky. As he did so, water from all around him began to rise in gigantic columns. The surrounding ice was beginning to crack, and minute drops of water flowed out of them to join the rising torrent.

“…fuck,” she breathed, and lunged to one side, hoping to get out of the way of a blow that would surely hurt like hell.

It was in vain. Kody brought his arms down, and what could only be called a tsunami crashed onto the ground and into the woman. It was all she could do to stay afloat in the icy water.

Ignoring the shock of sudden cold, she fought the water trying to drag her down, flailing to the top and gulping in air before being dragged back under.  As the wave subsided, there stood Kody; Soaking wet, and panting as if he'd just run a mile nonstop.

The woman was breathing just as hard as he was, and slowly straightened, clearly considering her options.  "Had...enough yet?" panted Kody, glaring angrily.

“Fuck… you,” she replied.

"A better man than I," said Kody, between breaths, "might give you the option to run off with your tail between your legs. But I don't like you."

With another wave of his arms, a sharp wave of water struck the exhausted woman and pinned her against a wall, where it promptly froze.  She swore at him, struggling against her icy prison.

Kody opened his mouth for a snappy one-liner, but it was interrupted by a fit of coughing. So he just turned and hobbled back to the niche he had stuck Ying into.  "It's a tunnel," she reported, still a little breathless, when he got to her. "I don't know where it goes or how long it is."

"We've got to… It's a what now?"

"A tunnel," she repeated.

"… there was a tunnel behind the billboard?"

"There still is, technically."

Kody poked his head into the niche. Sure enough, there was a concealed tunnel carved into the ice. "Well, fuck me sideways," said Kody.

"…thank you, no."

Kody ignored that remark. "Well, if there's a super secret tunnel back here, obviously there's something people don't want people to find. So let's go look."

She nodded. "Good idea."

"I'll go first," Kody volunteered. "You've filled your quota of getting the shit kicked out of you today." And with that, he ducked down and wandered into the tunnel. There were no obvious sources of light, and yet something was providing illumination.

She nodded, and followed after him.

"Looks like it opens up ahead," Kody murmured, covering his eyes. "I do hope it's not a secret prison for rapist-dragons or something. That would really be a bother."

"…You had to say that out loud, didn't you," she muttered.

"Of course I did. C'mon."

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

They came out into an area under open sky, surrounded by high icy walls.  In the very centre was a simple pond, which seemed to radiate light.  And the scene was… breathtaking. Even Kody was dumbstruck. This was it. This was the real place. He could feel the power of this spot.

Slowly, as if in reverence, he walked up to the edge of the pond.

Yĭng hung back, eyes lowered, not wanting to interrupt this moment.

Two koi circled each other in the pond, one black with a white spot, the other white with a black spot.  After a moment, something bobbed to the surface, equidistant between them and Kody — a black tortoise’s shell, empty of its inhabitant.

Slowly, Kody leaned in to pick the thing up. He shivered as he came in contact with the water, and paused, as if listening.

After several moments, he spoke.

"…thank you. I'll, er… try my best not to fuck this thing up."

He plucked the thing out of the water, and held it up, looking it over.

A black serpent slid out of the shell and slithered up Kody’s arm, draping itself around his neck like a scarf, the curve of its body following the chain of the necklace; its head rested just over Kody’s chest.  A moment of silence, then serpent and shell disappeared, leaving behind a black pendant in the shape of a snake’s tooth on the chain.

Kody blinked several times, looking over the thing. "Did that…" he stammered. "Did that just happen?"

"Yes…," Yĭng breathed. "Yes, it did…"

At roughly that point, something exploded in the harbour.  That caught both of their attentions.

"…You don't think that was our boat… do you?"

"Of course it was," said Kody, taking her hand and running toward the exit. "Don't you watch TV?"

"Not much," she snapped back.

"That explains so much."

They were halfway to the harbour when Shí ran into Kody — literally.  Her eyes were wide and she was breathing heavily.  “Not that way — come with me,” she panted.

"Are the others okay?" Ying asked her, breathless.

"What the fuck happened?" snapped Kody.

Shí answered Kody.  “Boat’s gone.  Xīn got us a new one.  We have to get out of here now.”

Kody nodded. "We found the trinket. Lead the way, soldier-girl."

Shí led them on a twisty path away from the harbour and to the outskirts of the city; sure enough, a new boat — a much bigger one — was waiting for them.

Yĭng clambered aboard as fast as she could.   "Nice score, firebug," said Kody to himself, genuinely impressed as he made his way onboard behind Yĭng.  With a leap, Shí followed the two of them and shouted for Yí Xīn to get them out of there.