"So, what're we gonna do when we run out of road?" Kimiko asked, a few days out of the Northern Air Temple.

"We could buy a boat," Yĭng said, the slight emphasis on 'buy' just barely detectable.

“Borrowing’s faster,” Yí Xīn replied, “especially if we give it back when we’re done.”

"I still don't like it," Yĭng insisted.

"Complain when the fate of the world isn't at stake," muttered Kody as he made a sharp right.

"Can we get a speedboat?" Kimiko asked.

"We need something that all of us can fit into."

“Not to mention something that’ll survive the trip,” Yí Xīn added.  “It’s at least a 24-hour trip there by boat.”

The thirteen-year-old sighed. "Fine..."

Kody chuckled. "Maybe for you," he said smugly.  "I can get us to the Pole in at least sixteen."

“Forgive me for not having travelled with a waterbender before,” snapped the firebender.

"All is forgiven."

"If we can't get a speedboat, can we get one with enough space for me to practice?" Kimiko asked, lightly touching her swords.

“No more practising until you stop dropping the swords on your feet,” Yí Xīn told her gently.  “We should be able to find you a temporary tutor in the North Pole.”

"Fine."

The motley crew seemed content to drive in silence for some miles, watching the scenery. To the shock of all, it was Kody who broke it.

"I realize that I have very little coming to me in the favors department," said Kody, "but I'm going to ask for one all the same. You don't have to pay any attention."

“Go ‘head,” muttered a very groggy Shí, who’d just drifted back from a drug-induced slumber.  “Can’t promise anythin’.”

"Sure. What's up?" Kimiko said.

"When we get to the Pole proper, don't tell anybody what I am."

Yĭng started to say something, then stopped. "Don't you...want a teacher?"

Yí Xīn snorted derisively.  “You think he needs one?”

"You can only go so far on instinct and raw power," she pointed out.

Abruptly, Kody slammed on the brakes and glared at Yĭng; a yelp came from where Shí lay in the back seat.

She looked at him evenly. "I won't tell, I just don't understand why you don't want a teacher."

"No," he said, his voice positively venomous. "I do not need a  teacher. I do not want a godsdamned teacher. I survived most of my damned life on my own, despite the best efforts of everyone else.  So fuck the teachers. I've never trusted anyone but me and that has not fucking changed. Do not bring this up again."

Turning back to the road, he started again as abruptly as he stopped.

She shrugged one shoulder, but didn't pursue the conversation.

Soft cursing drifted from the back where Shí lay, but none of it was directed at Kody.

 

*                 *                       *

 

The North Pole was a popular tourist spot, but it was currently in its off-season.. Being surrounded by water for miles and miles in every direction and the only flat land being made out of ice, the only way to get there was via boat. During the tourist season, there were regular ferries. When it wasn't that time, demand for travel was fairly low, and thus boat rentals were the way to go.

It was from a small port town that a group of five young people were trying to negotiate exactly this with little success, despite the best efforts and repeated profanities of the mangy water tribesman at the booth.

"What the fuck do you mean 'all out'? There's boats all over the fucking place!"

The small and nervous-looking clerk backed a bit deeper into his niche. Suddenly, bulletproof glass did not seem secure enough. "I'm very sorry," he said, "they're reserved."

"Reserved?" yelled Kody. "The fuck they are!”

"Reserved by whom?" Yĭng asked, stepping between Kody and the clerk before someone got hurt.

Yí Xīn wasn’t paying attention; he was instead eyeing a couple of the boats and making mental calculations involving Kody’s ability to cause distractions and the tools he had on hand.

"I'm not allowed to say," murmured the clerk. He was visibly sweating.

Shí leaned forward.  “Can you write it down?” she suggested reasonably.

The clerk shook his head, then pushed an unseen button. A shutter  with the words "out to lunch" printed on it came down.

"Oh, for!" snarled Kody, pounding on it. "OPEN UP, YOU SPINELESS PANSY!"

“Keep him distracted,” Yí Xīn murmured softly to Kody.

"Kody, stop it. That's probably why he slammed down--Yi Xīn, what are you doing?" Yĭng said.

“Nothing, princess.  Turn around like a good girl,” replied the mechanic as he hopped aboard one of the boats.

"Or we could find out who rented the boats and come to some reasonable--Are you stealing that?"

Kody was either ignoring Yĭng, or couldn't hear her over the shouted profanities.  Profanities Kimiko was literally taking note of.

“I’m sure we’ve had this discussion before,” said Yí Xīn evenly as he inspected the engine.

"There's a better way to do this. A less-illegal way to do this, revolving respectable lawbreaking, like bribing the proper renter of this boat! We don't need to resort to theft! Yi Xīn, are you even listening to me?" Yĭng snapped.

“Nope,” the mechanic started.  “Kimiko, come here.”

"Huh? What's up?" the teenager said, hiding her notebook behind her back.

“Get aboard.”

Shí was gently urging Yĭng towards the boat as well.  “Kody, come on,” she called to him.  “He’s probably pushed the panic button by now.”

The two teenage girls clambered aboard, Yĭng still fuming at how the boat had been acquired.

"And your mother, and your sister, and your fucking dog too!" concluded Kody as Yí Xīn finished his work. "Took you long enough," he added under his breath as he hurried aboard.

“Had to disable the alarm,” Yí Xīn replied, getting the boat started.

"I still think we should've tried less-illegal methods of getting a boat," Ying said, mildly sulkily.

“I don’t think we had time for that,” replied the soldier.  “I told you about the man and the woman who ambushed my unit.”

The younger woman sighed, and said nothing more.

"You can complain when the world isn't in crisis," murmured Kody, who appeared to be doing some stretches.

Kimiko, meanwhile, had found some empty space on the deck to practice dropping her swords creatively.

“Kimi, you are going to stab yourself in the foot and I am not going to be fixing it,” said Yí Xīn, gunning the boat as far from the port as fast as he could.

"No, I'm not. Ow!"

The boat suddenly picked up speed at an alarming rate. When Yí Xīn looked back, Kody was standing at the other end of it, waving his arms as if swimming through the air.

Yí Xīn opened his mouth, closed it, and turned back to the open water.  Shí shuddered and sat down, not looking at Kody.

 

*                       *                       *

 

Yù Lóng turned off the radio and set down the headphones, then joined his companions on the boat deck.  “You look green,” he told the miserable Tetsu as he plopped down onto one of the chairs.  He then turned his attention to Jiān Miè.  “Got word in from our guy on the docks,” he said.  “The boat-thieves are definitely our quarry.”

"Good," the older man replied, tersely. "How do we want to do this?"

The earthbender merely grunted.

“You’re the strategist,” Yù Lóng shot back.  “I’m just the tease.”

"I meant more along the lines of how we want to split up. One of us needs to take out their boat. The other two need to go into the city and find them. Who wants what?"

The acrobat considered this.  “Probably best if you take the boat,” he said.  “It is your area of expertise.”

Tetsu grunted again in agreement with Yù Lóng.

Jiān Miè nodded. "Right."

“Just don’t forget about the princess,” Yù Lóng added.

"I won't blow up the boat 'til I'm sure she's off it," the older man promised.

Tetsu grunted once again, this time a shade reproachful.

The pretty man glanced at him.  “Something to add?”

"We both know you can be a bit..." - he paused to clutch his stomach and groan - "...overzealous at times. Especially when your precious boom-booms are involved."

"I know what's at stake here," he said, wryly. "And I've taken prisoners under even tenser circumstances before. You know that."

“He can do it,” Yù Lóng chimed in.

Tetsu groaned again. It seemed he had said all he was going to say and was disinclined to argue.

Jiān Miè smiled a little to himself, and turned his focus back to driving the boat, planning his assault in the back of his mind.

 

*                 *                       *

 

Those of the Northern Water Tribe liked to claim that they retained the traditions of their ancestors, and for the most part, they were correct.  Nearly everything was carved out of ice (rumoured to be carefully maintained by benders) and they still performed many of the same rituals and rites of years past.

However, they had also modernised somewhat, and so computers, televisions, and other modernised equipment designed to look as though it was carved from ice could be found all over the place.  Some of the newer buildings — namely the large hospital complex — were made from brick and stone and had heaters inside, but they, like the smaller modern things, shared the same look as the rest of the village.

All of this, Yí Xīn felt, served to make him personally feel out of place.  He felt… disconnected from everything out here, and he didn’t like that feeling at all.  Carefully, he brought the boat in and docked it.

Kimiko didn't particularly like the North Pole either. It was cold, and made her depressed and achy all over.

"So here we are," murmured Kody, slightly exhausted from the trip. "The land of my ancestors. And they can bloody keep it."  Strangely, he was still wearing his usual shirt-and-slacks combo, not minding the cold at all.

"I'm with you, Kody," Kimiko muttered, shivering.

“Oh, put a sock in it,” muttered Shí.  “I’m going to see if some of the healers can fix my arm.  You go find your amulet.”

"This place is depressing. Can I wait on the boat?" the youngest girl asked.

“I’m with her,” said Yí Xīn.  “I’ll stay in the warm, thanks.”

"I'm curious," Yĭng admitted. "I'd like to go exploring, talk to people."

"Suit yourselves," said Kody. "I'd best go along and make sure nothing unfortunate happens to sunshine here."

“Amulet,” Shí reminded him again.

"That too," he grumbled, as if the thought pained him, and it probably did.

“If that’s all, I’m taking Kimi and locking us in the cabin,” said Yí Xīn.  “Let me know when it’s time to leave.”

Kimiko hugged herself, shivering. "This place is beautiful. Dunno why it's so depressing."

“Because it’s cold,” was Yí Xīn’s opinion.

"I could think up a few reasons," said Kody, "but they probably don't apply to you."

She shook her head. "I've been this cold at winter at home, and it wasn't depressing.

Yí Xīn glanced at her, eyes narrowed, but said nothing more.  Shí just shook her head and made her way to the hospital.

"So. Where do we want to look first?" Yĭng asked, pulling on a pair of gloves.

Kody scratched his head thoughtfully for a moment. "Okay, so, the magical MacGuffin is allegedly hidden in the oasis, right?"

"Yes, probably. That's supposed to be the most spiritual place in the North Pole," she replied.

"And if there's one thing I know as a professional cynic about almost spiritual places'," said Kody, gesturing, "it's that they tend to be the biggest tourist draws in town."

His hand was pointed toward a small both that was, apparently, selling sightseeing guides, manned by a very bitter-looking old woman.

"Well, then, we start there, and see where it leads us," Yĭng said reasonably. "Either that, or I use my name and my father's position to get an audience with the chief."

"It's never smart to play your ace when a two will win you the hand," said Kody, sauntering over to the booth.

Yĭng rolled her eyes, and followed.

Two dollars, a bus ride and a brisk walk later, the group was in sight of a large sign proclaiming the site of the Water Tribe's most sacred location, along with a rather long list of DO's and DON'Ts, all of which were enforced by extremely heavy fines. It was not listed, but Kody presumed that "DON'T poke around for ancient mystical artefacts" was something of a given.

Yĭng sighed, and blew on her hands. Just because she was wearing gloves didn't mean they weren't cold. She was, after all, born and raised in a volcanic equatorial archipelago. "So, shall we?"

"After you," said Kody, bowing deeply. "Last one to desecrate sacred ground is a rotten arctic hen's egg."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course." She stood on tiptoe, patted him on the head as one would a small child, and headed towards the oasis.

It only took them about five minutes to realise this wasn’t the actual oasis.  The Northern Water Tribe took spirituality seriously; a century before, when tourism had truly begun to rise, some crafty benders and non-benders had created a false oasis for the benefit of the gawkers, keeping their most sacred location hidden from those who might cause harm to Tui and La, as a glory-mad admiral had done centuries before.

"...Shall I try my name, now?" Yĭng asked, quietly.

"Might as well," said Kody, shrugging. "Though I can honestly say that I'm not terribly surprised." In truth, Kody had known it as soon as they got within sight of it; as much as Kody loathed his heritage, he was still a Water Tribesman and there were some things a Water Tribesman just knew.

"Then let's go find someone I can introduce myself to."

"I'll let you do the talking."

"Good idea."