4

 

The road was a long and winding one, mainly because they were on foot a lot of the way. This was mainly because Yĭng refused to let Kody steal a car.

She had tried to make conversation with the aloof waterbender, but when he said anything at all, it was to the tune of “whatever”. They had gotten as far as a smallish village near the foothills of the mountains that held the Temple, and still she did not relent in her attempts at socialization.

“Where are you from?” she was asking, and then she saw the bodies, and froze.

They looked to have been soldiers before their untimely demises; to the experienced eye, it was evident they’d been dead maybe two days.  Empty shell casings littered the ground, as did dried blood.  Most had died of gunshot wounds; some had broken necks.

“Absolutely nowhere,” he replied. He kept walking, seemingly heedless of what was around him.

Yĭng knelt next to one of the bodies, with its eyes still open, and carefully shut them. “There might be survivors,” she called to her companion. “We have to look.”

“They didn’t die recently,” said Kody, not looking back. “The survivors are probably long gone. And anyway, it’s not our problem.”

“We don’t know that,” she snapped. “Well, you can do what you like, I’m going to search.” She stood up, brushed herself off, and went down the nearest alley to search.  He paused for a moment, muttered something impolite, and casually turned and walked after her.

“Hello?” she called out. “Is anyone there? Hello?”

The alley was mostly empty, save for the body of what had probably been the soldiers’ commander.  He was one of those who had a broken neck; he’d fallen just in front of a side door leading into one of the buildings.

She swallowed, hard, and stepped over the body to check inside the building. “Hello?”

There was silence, but also more dried blood, leading back into the shadows.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Yĭng followed the blood trail. “Is someone there?”

Kody was standing behind her, surveying the carnage as one might look at spilt garbage. “Nothin’ for it now,” he said.  He followed her, because she was, at the moment, his pay check.

“You don’t know that!” she cried. The daughter of the most war-torn nation in the world was unwilling to leave this village until she’d searched every inch for survivors.

A quiet click indicated someone had taken a gun’s safety off, then a harsh female voice snarled from the darkness, “Get back!”

Kody’s reaction was on sheer reflex. He turned toward the voice and raised his hands. With the motion, the water from a nearby puddle leapt to his hands and then outward, solidifying into ice as it hit the spot where their assailant’s hands were presumed to be.

There was a pained gasp, but the sound of another gun being armed accompanied this.  “Stay away from me, bender!”

“Stop that!” Yĭng said to Kody. She then turned towards the voice.  “My name is Tŭ Yĭng. I am the youngest daughter of Tŭ Shu No, a member of the Senate of the Republic of Fire. I can’t speak for my companion, but I am unarmed and mean you no harm. Are there any more survivors?”

“Make him stand down,” hissed the voice.

Yĭng turned to Kody. “We’re not there yet, so you still work for me. Do what she asks.”

“Whatever you say, mistress,” he muttered sarcastically, lowering his hands.

The Senator’s daughter turned back to the voice. “Are there other survivors?”

“No,” and there was pain in the woman’s voice that had nothing to do with physical injuries.  “Only me.”

Yĭng bowed her head. “I’m sorry. H-how badly are you injured?”

“Apart from the ice pinning my broken arm to a wall?”

“Apart from that, yes,” said Kody.

He got the distinct impression he was being glared at; not that he cared.

“I saw the blood on the walls. Is there anything I can do to help?” Yĭng asked, trying to keep the situation from exploding again.

“Just leave me alone.”  A click; the woman had put the safety on her other gun.

“But if I can help--”

“Go!” the woman cried, her voice breaking.  “Before they kill you too!”

“She said to leave her alone,” Kody cut in. After he spoke, the waterbender made a brief gesture and the ice melted away.

Yĭng ignored both Kody’s reprimand and the woman’s warning. “I am going to approach you and see how badly you’re hurt. Like I said earlier, I’m unarmed and have no intention of hurting you.”  To prove her point, she spread her hands wide, and started slowly walking towards the corner.

There was a shuffle, as if the woman was trying to pull further into her corner, and a hiss of pain.  “Don’t worry about me.  Just go, damn it!”

“I’m sorry, but if you’re hurt, I can’t just leave you here,” Yĭng replied, at least outwardly calm. She kept walking, slowly, towards the corner.

Faster than Kody could react, the gun came up and the safety came off; bullets sprayed the ground just in front of Yĭng’s feet.  “I said leave!”

With snakelike reflexes, Kody dashed forward, grabbed the woman’s wrist and plucked the gun out of it with his free hand.  “Go ahead,” he snarled. “Try something cute like that again. See what happens.” The hand gripping her seemed to radiate cold.

Yĭng, a few shades paler after the gunfire, glared at Kody. “I told you to stand down!” she snapped. “I’m trying to help her!”

“Kind of difficult to be helpful with a bullet in your brain!” snapped Kody.

“She shot at my feet, not my head!”

Dark blue eyes glared up at Kody.  “I’m not afraid of you, bender,” the woman snapped.  This was a lie; Kody could feel her trembling in his hand.

“Kody,” Yĭng snapped. “Stand. Down. There’s no need to be violent.”

“Your mouth says no, but the rest of you says ‘aaaaaagh’,” said the bender softly, smirking a bit. “But my pay check doesn’t want you hurt.” With that, he let go and summarily tossed her gun over his shoulder.

Lightning quick, the girl lunged past him, catching the gun and turning in the air so that she landed on her back.  The gun came up at Kody; for all her body was shaking, her aim was steady.  “Go.  Away.  I won’t help that psychotic bastard!”

Yĭng stared at the injured woman, than at Kody. “Kody. Could you leave the room, please.”

“I live to serve,” muttered Kody, walking out. Though he was facing away from them, the roll of his eyes was almost audible.

In the light, the soldier’s wounds were visible — apart from the broken arm, which had been roughly splinted, a bloody bandage was wrapped around her thigh, and she bore a number of grazes and bruises.

Ying took a deep breath. “If by ‘psychotic bastard,’ you’re referring to the Avatar, know that my father and his party in the Senate proposed that the Republic declare war on him.  My older sister was kidnapped to get my father to back down, despite her husband, also a Senator, opposing Father’s motion.  I swear to you, I won’t make you serve him, and I will do everything in my power to stop him killing people.”

The woman stared at her, and then slowly lowered her gun.  “Then what are you doing with a bender?”

“The men who kidnapped my sister are trying to kidnap or kill me, too,” the sixteen-year-old replied, softly. “When two of them attacked me a few weeks ago, he stopped them. I hired him to escort me somewhere I would be safe.”

“…I see,” the soldier replied, holstering her pistol and pushing herself into a sitting position with her good arm.

“Will you let me help you?” the younger woman asked again.

“I don’t see how I can stop you, Tŭ Yĭng,” said the soldier dryly.  “I am Lieutenant Jīn Shí.”

The Senator’s daughter bowed her head. “It’s an honour to meet you, Lieutenant.” Cautiously, she approached the older woman, digging in her backpack for her (admittedly limited) first aid kit.

The woman’s only reply to that was a bitter laugh.  “Honour.  Is there any left to this world?”

“I don’t know. But I try to live by at least a moral code, even if I can’t live by an honourable one,” the girl replied. “I can’t do much for you, but I can at least change the bandage on your thigh and try to clean the injury, is that all right? Will you let me do that?” Always make the other party feel like they’re in control, convince them that what you want them to do is all their idea.

Shí made a face.  “All right, fine.”

Yĭng opened her kit and pulled out the safety scissors, cutting through the bandage. She dug out the disinfectant and a roll of bandages, and cleaned and re-bandaged the injury as quickly as she could. Then she frowned, biting her lip, not sure what she could do for the broken arm. “Um… “ she said, under her breath.

“I’ll live with it, kid,” Shí said quickly.  Unless, of course, those guys turn up for a second round…  She shuddered, almost delicately.

“Um… look, there might be something better we can use for splints up the mountain, in the Temple. Do you want to try and head there, see what we can find?”

“…might as well.  My unit was heading that way when we were attacked.”

Yĭng nodded. “Do you need help standing?” she asked, after a moment’s hesitation.

In answer, the soldier dragged herself to her feet.  Limping to the shadows, she plucked out a pack and a machine gun, both of which she strapped on.

“Kody will be with us,” the Senator’s daughter admitted after a moment. “I know you don’t like him, but I hired him to escort me, and…” She shrugged.

“I somehow guessed,” Shí answered, and sighed.  She muttered something under her breath.

“Can you accept that?”

“I don’t see where I have a choice in the matter.”

Yĭng let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, okay, then we’ll head up the mountain.” She stood back, to let the older woman leave the room first.  Shí checked her gear one last time, then limped outside.

“And for the record,” said Kody as Shí passed him, making her jump a bit, “you’re absolutely right about my mother.”

The younger woman glared at Kody. I’m trying to forestall a confrontation here. And you’re not helping. “Kody…”

“You are not paying me to be nice. You are paying me to keep you alive.”

She sighed. “Yes, but I’d appreciate at least a modicum of courtesy.”

Shí ignored them both, and did her best not to look at the bodies as they walked through the remains of the town.

“I don’t do courtesy,” said Kody, walking out ahead of her, as was his wont.

Yĭng sighed again, and followed her two companions. This is going to be a very, very long walk.

 

None of them were aware that they were being watched.